


It's a lame party

by dontpanicgetatowel



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst (a little), Bi-awakening, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Bonding, Billy's huuuge crush on Steve Harrington, Billy's low self-esteem, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Eventual fluff (not yet), Halloween, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, POV Billy Hargrove, POV Steve Harrington, Robin knows what's up, Sex Is Fun, Smooth!Billy Hargrove, Smut, Soft Billy Hargrove, Soft Steve Harrington, Step-siblings, nothing upside-down-related of S3 happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:48:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontpanicgetatowel/pseuds/dontpanicgetatowel
Summary: Robin said she would be staying with him thewholeevening.And the only other person he knows here isBillyfuckingHargrove.And what is BillyfuckingHargrove doing at a Halloween party thrown by a formertheatre nerdturned Ivy League over the summer, well Steve has no FUCKING idea
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 12
Kudos: 228





	1. it's a lame party

Robin said she would be staying with him the _whole_ evening.

She clearly lied because right now Steve is left unsupervised among the party-goers of the living room and she’s nowhere to be seen. 

Steve. Doesn’t. Like it.

Now that he thinks about it, she seemed to get on _pretty_ well with that college girl and former theatre nerd of Hawkins High. 

It’s not that he doesn’t approve. He just wishes she had _at least_ told him she was leaving. Because now that he’s not in high school anymore, he doesn’t know that many people at Halloween parties. Well, sure, Nancy and Jonathan were there at the beginning, and there are a few former high schoolers who were in the same year as him, but Steve wasn’t really part of their clique back then (again, _theatre nerds_ ). And apart from all those people, the only other person he knows here is _Billy_ fucking _Hargrove_. 

And what is Billy _fucking_ Hargrove doing at a Halloween party thrown by a former _theatre nerd_ turned Ivy League over the summer, well Steve has no _FUCKING_ idea.

Steve _does not_ hate the guy. Anymore. At least not as much as before. Billy’s actually come a long way since the night he crushed Steve’s face to mush. He even apologized. And he even apologized to the kids. Damn, even Hopper seems to have a soft spot for him now. But he’s still a jerk to Steve, just like he was when Steve was still in Hawkins High. In fact, now Billy regularly _comes to Family Video_ to mess with him. So yeah, it’s annoying to say the least. But Steve does not _hate_ the guy.

Steve does not hate Billy, but Billy _unnerves_ him. It’s _physical_. Steve is simply _on edge_ when Billy is around. The second that jerk enters the video store, Steve’s skin prickles from his neck to the tip of his fingers just from anticipation. How will he manage to push Steve’s buttons this time? Because, yeah, _every time_ Billy gets a movie, he finds a new provocation to destabilize Steve. And it works because every time, Steve prepares a comeback, but it’s unfortunately the perfect comeback for last time.

Last week Billy was renting The Terminator for the third time, so Steve made a remark about no girl ever having the _privilege_ this VHS tape had to spend three nights with him. Yeah, Steve started it this time, but _usually_ it’s Billy who attacks first.

The thing is. Steve is very obvious when he’s being sarcastic, so there is no chance Billy misinterpreted his tone. Billy pretends not to understand the irony only to mess with him. 

He just leaned against the counter, put on his most wolfish grin and said “Aw, _Harrington_. Jealous of a VHS tape now? Don’t worry, pretty boy, it’s nothin’ serious.” And after crooking his smile even more and slightly licking his lips, he added “It doesn’t compare to you.” Steve had no comeback for that _level_ of messing with him, so he just rolled his eyes back as far as he could to hide his irritation. Billy easily gets to him but that does not mean Steve’s gonna give him the satisfaction of _seeing_ that he gets to him.

It seems that Billy just spotted him from across the living room, near the beer barrel. Steve doesn’t know what’s so funny about his appearance, but Billy is surely laughing a little too hard. 

_Choke on your beer_. 

Steve frowns and crosses his arms. He tries to convey something to Billy, but it doesn’t seem to work. See, he wants to look like an annoyed mother tapping her foot, but he’s not sure he doesn’t look like a pouting child who made his ice cream cone fall to the floor.

 _I need a smoke_.

He rolls his eyes for good measure and pushes through the already tipsy crowd to get to the backyard. 

It’s less crowded around the pool, but still. People are loud. It used to be the fun part for Steve. But all those people drinking or fake laughing or saying dumb shit just make him sick nowadays. 

He leans his back against the cold wall while breathing nicotine, and it doesn’t seem that stupid anymore. He could just get wasted on his own. After all, it’s Halloween. Wouldn’t be the first time somebody gets wasted. And then maybe someone he wouldn’t suspect could bring him home. _Could be Billy_. 

He rolls his eyes at his train thoughts. _Really?_ That’s exactly _not_ why he went outside. Frustrated, he throws his half-finished cigarette in the pool. Yeah, he knows. Not that nice for the person who’ll clean up. But right now he doesn’t care. He watches the cigarette butt float and it’s… calming. Yeah, okay, he’s gonna put it in the trash. He leans to catch it and _hopes_ no one will push him because it’s fucking cold at this time of the year. 

When he gets back up with his soaked half cigarette, he gets faced with the Californian spirit on full display. Because today, Billy Hargrove is dressed up in theme. Steve doesn’t know how he manages to keep any heat in his body. Billy has rolled up jeans on with flip flops and a thick black… ankle bracelet? That’s the bottom, and then he wears a stupid Hawaiian shirt, with palm trees and all. And the shirt is completely open. Openly displaying… Everything. 

“Lost your fag, Harrington?”

The _fuck_?

“ _What?_ ”

Billy is holding his cigarette pack towards him. _Oh_. Steve misunderstood.

“Oh, uh. Yeah.” Steve looks at the pack, then at Billy with raised eyebrows. Then he takes one. Billy’s grin widens with satisfaction while he brings the pack to his own mouth to get one too.

Steve lights the not soaked cigarette and blows the first puff of smoke on his side. 

“So… Who are you dressed as?”

Billy looks utterly delighted to be asked just that.

“Well, I’m dressed as me, from an alternate reality where I didn’t move to this shithole town. That’s what I would be dressed like at this exact moment.”

Wow, Steve hadn’t thought that Billy was that nerdy. _Alternate reality me, really?_ Steve contains his smile so he doesn’t seem mocking, but can’t refrain himself from asking: 

“But wouldn’t you be dressed as someone who moved to some shithole town if you were in California?”

Billy’s head tilts to the side and he licks his lips. Not that Steve’s watching, mind you.

“Nice observation, but I wouldn’t even have to think about it if I were there.”

_Okay._

“And… does everyone have an ankle bracelet in California?”

“That’s part of the leash.”

“The _leash?_ ”

“For the _board_ , Harrington.”

Steve can’t _believe_ it. This time it’s _him_ who gets to Billy first. He really has difficulties to contain his smile. Billy has a gauging look before talking again:

“Where are all your friends, pretty boy?”

Steve’s eyebrows shoot up to the sky and the Bitchface. Is. On.

“Well that’s harsh!”

“Aw, come on I don’t mean it like that. It’s just that I saw Bonnie and Clyde earlier, and it seems they’re on the road now. I mean there are plenty of other parties so I guess they went to one of those, but still, pretty harsh to leave you alo-”

“There are plenty of other parties, and of all parties you could go to, you came here? To the reunion of former theatre nerds?”

Steve isn’t even sure it’s _former_. 

“What? D’you think it’s not my kind of crowd, Harrington?”

“Well, for one, _yes_.”

He blows on his cigarette and keeps his sassy look on Billy. He hopes it’s sassy. His confidence falters every second, while Billy’s eyebrows slowly raise.

“And what’s the second part of your argumentation, sweetheart?”

“I don’t- have any.”

Billy chuckles and shakes his head.

“Okay, think that’s not my kind of crowd? I’ll have you know I already got four options for the _second part_ of the night, Harrington.”

Steve is very dubious about that.

“Yeah, right. It’s like, eleven.”

“So? Your dyke friend left an hour ago with her college night-candy. It’s never too early.”

“Uh, no, she left _half_ an hour ago, and it’s not- correct to say that!”

Billy playfully rolls his eyes and corrects himself: “Alright, college _acquaintance_.”

Steve stares at him.

“Lesbian friend?”

“And _how_ could you _know_ that she’s… _huh_?”

His voice was way too squeaky saying that.

Billy just tilts his head on the side and looks at him like he’s five years old.

“ _Harrington_. I know that kind of things.”

What is Steve supposed to say right now, huh? 

He just stares for a second.

_A change of subject is the best possible move here._

“ _Four_ options?”

Billy grins widely. He’s seeing right through him though, doesn’t he?

“Yeah. Impressed?”

“More like _sceptical_. I mean… Again, people here are not really your style.”

“Not my style… And what’s _my style_ , Harrington?”

At that Steve has to ponder for a couple seconds, searching what he knows about Billy’s partners. Well the ones he _saw_.

“Uh, I don’t know, like top model hot?.. and a little stupid, ’little dumb?”

Billy bursts in laughter at that, then looks at him with playful eyes.

“Yeah, that’s quite about right”

“Who _are_ your four options?”

“Alright, I’ll show you! Let’s begin with plan D. Across the pool, blonde girl in a fairy costume, talking to Robin Hood, see her?”

Steve finds her after screening through a dozen people across the pool. She’s dressed as Tinker Bell, and Steve thinks she’s talking more to Peter Pan than Robin Hood but that’s not really the point of the conversation. And if it’s Peter Pan there are chances those two are together so Steve is even more dubious than before.

“Yeah?”

“Well it’s like, the fifth time she looks at me with _those eyes_ , you know? And it’s only a matter of seconds before she looks at me again, ‘cause she saw I was here. And this time, I’m gonna answer with a little jerk of the head, a nice look up and down and a lil’smile-which-says-a-lot, see what I mean?”

“O-kay?”

Peter Pan shows his cup to Tinker Bell and says something before heading to the inside of the house. Tinker Bell watches him go, and when he’s inside, she turns her gaze right on Billy. Steve’s eyes follow hers and Billy is already on full charm-mode. His eyes are hooded, his smile is warm and he nibbles his bottom lip while throwing a wondering look towards the door Peter Pan escaped through. Then his gaze returns to the girl, and so does Steve’s. She too, worries her bottom lip watching the door, obviously deliberating something, and when she turns to Billy again, her grin widens and it seems like she made her mind. Her eyes are way more confident than before and she _winks_ at Billy. Steve hears him chuckle.

The exchange is interrupted by Peter Pan returning, but finishes on a promising note, giving that the girl, seeing her boyfriend coming back, bites her lip again looking at Billy, and keeps throwing furtive looks at him when she’s given her drink.

Billy turns to Steve, shit-eating grin on his face.

“Did you see that, Harrington?”

Steve is _frustrated_ by this demonstration. How is it so easy for Billy? He just _looked_ at her and _she_ winked. Steve isn’t someone who has that much difficulties flirting, but _damn_. How did he do that?

“Yeah, yeah, okay. That makes one.”

“Don’t pretend you’re not impressed, Harrington.”

“I mean, had you already talked to her tonight?”

This grin becomes more annoying every _second_.

“No, but that’s the third time we’ve had that kind of exchange. First time she winks, though.”

“Okay…” Steve looks at her again but she’s not looking in Billy’s direction anymore. Before talking again he glances at Billy’s attire for a second. Maybe if Steve was displaying as much skin people would wink at him too. But it’s not only the shirt. Alright, it’s partly the shirt, which is, again, _completely open_ , but there’re also the _jeans_. They’re sitting low. _Really_ low on Billy’s hips. Steve’s pretty sure – but Steve should keep his eyes on Billy’s _face_ , shouldn’t he? Billy was looking at the girl the whole time, so Steve starts talking again as if nothing happened. Not that _anything_ happened.

“Okay, I’m a little impressed by all this… non-verbal communication thing, not gonna lie. But that still makes just one.” 

Let’s not lose face, okay?

“Alright, I’ll continue. I’ve gotta find her… yes, in the living room, at the table, with the afro cut.”

Steve looks through the bay window and spots the table where a beer pong tournament is being held.

“The natural afro or the wig?”

“Natural. Talked to her an hour ago. Name’s Shirley, great sense of humor, ridiculous laugh. Wait until she looks this way.”

‘Shirley’ is wearing a purple, kind of extravagant suit and her gaze is underlined by black eyeshadow. She’s cheering for the girl giving her best shot right now at throwing the ball but Steve’s pretty sure it’s wasted effort. 

“What’s her costume?”

“Prince.”

Steve looks closer. Not very well executed, but good intentions.

“You guessed that or did she tell you?”

“She told me.”

Steve looks at Billy, who’s still looking through the window. It’s kind of nice having a normal conversation for once.

“Oh, oh, she looks this way!”

Billy whips Steve’s forearm with his hand to get his attention on the girl again. As soon as she spots Billy her smile grows three sizes and shines ten shades brighter. She lifts her cup towards him and it seems like she says ‘hey’ because Steve hears Billy answer with an obscenely languorous ‘hey’ on this side of the window. 

His raised eyebrow has no effect on Billy’s behaviour. 

Billy looks at her with a wide grin, licks his bottom lip and blows on his cigarette before doing a little jerk of the head towards his right side. When Shirley seems to get what he’s trying to convey, her smile becomes even more radiant, and she mouths ‘Yeah’. Then she does a circling motion with her finger, mouthing ‘but later’ before drinking a bit in her cup, eyes still aimed at Billy. 

Billy chuckles, says ‘alright’ then walks towards the barbecue, away from the bay window. Midway there he looks back to see Steve planted on his feet, gaping at him a little. When Steve joins him beside the barbecue, he almost says something, he does, but his mouth runs out of words.

“What is it Harrington? No words can describe how much you’re impressed?”

Maybe Steve is impressed. But that’s only a tiny part of what Steve is feeling right now. Impressed, yes, but mostly unnerved. Thing is, he _knows_ Billy’s successful with girls, but it’s a different thing entirely to witness it first-hand. And Steve can feel his brain fidget. About what? Hell if he knows. He just knows that even if it should be funny to see how ridiculously easy it is for Billy to find someone ‘for the second part of the night’, he doesn’t find it as funny as he should. He’s finding it… annoying. And the thing is, he does not find _Billy_ annoying. Well, not tonight. But _something_ is annoying. Maybe he’s jealous. But that makes no sense, because Steve has it easy with girls too. Maybe not as easy as Billy but the difference is not wide to the point that he’s jealous of him. Is it?

“Yeah, let’s say that. No, I… I admit that’s impressive, okay?”

Then Billy has a _look_. Not the kind of look he gives the girls mind you, but something as intense. As he’s pondering something? Something about Steve?

“Shall I continue?”

“Uh, yeah, go on.”

“Well, you saw plan D and plan C. Time for plan B now.”

Billy is… hesitating? He continues to look at Steve _that way_. What is he trying to do? Is he shy all of a sudden from talking about his ‘plans’? That can’t be it, right? That didn’t seem to bother him at all until now, did it? Steve raises his eyebrows, expecting.

“Uh… Yeah, that’s how… the alphabet works.”

That seems to be the perfect thing to say, because Billy’s worried (was that it?) look is whipped off his face and replaced with an equally smug and condescending look. His smile crooks and he blows on his cigarette. When he talks again though, it’s quieter than before.

“Plan B, then. Also across the pool right now. Blue jeans. Blue polo. Blue Converse. Looks like what Clark Kent would look like in freshman year of college. Smokes on his own, talks to no one because he’s too insecure.”

Steve’s head shots to the side, so fast he almost gets whiplash. And he spots the guy in a second. That guy looks like a quarterback disguised with Ivy League student clothes.

 _Billy Likes Guys Too_.

 _Wow_ , that came out wrong, he means that _Billy Also Likes Guys_.

 _NO_ , what he _means_ is that _Billy likes guys as much as girls_.

Yeah, _that_ is what he means.

 _That_ is some new information to process for sure.

Let’s make sure to think carefully before saying anything hinting at nothing in particular.

“And how do you know he’s interested?”

 _Congratulations on that smooth talk of yours, Steve_.

Steve’s voice came out a little too out of breath for his taste, but Billy doesn’t seem to notice. 

Billy just sharpens his look for a second then serves Steve a grin like no grin he has ever given him before. He seems younger all of a sudden. 

“Well for one, the guy can’t _help_ but look at me. And with that _longing_ stare, you know. Plus, he blushed when I made my doe eyes at him across the kitchen. So that makes me… let’s say 75% sure. And he looked at me again while I was talking to you. And I’m gonna be 100% sure in a couple minutes if you’ll excuse me. Watch and learn, Harrington.”

Steve wants to protest but at Billy’s raised eyebrow, he doesn’t.

Billy says “I just want you to acknowledge the fact that he’s looking at me right now so he knows that I threw this not even half-smoked cigarette on the floor.” before crushing the fag under his flip-flop and walking towards the guy.

Steve can’t breathe right now. He doesn’t know what the two are talking about but it sure seems like Billy asked the guy for a cigarette and that the guy gave it. Now he’s getting his lighter out of his pocket and… Steve’s eyes widen. And he lights Billy’s cigarette _while Billy blows on it_.

Why is Steve so _unnerved_ tonight?

They talk a little, and Billy laughs at something, his head lolling backwards. At that, the guy looks into Steve’s eyes for a second, before giving a shy smile to Billy. 

Clark Kent’s stunt double is at least half a head taller than Billy. And way stockier than him too, which is impressive, because Billy’s already pretty well built. But Billy still looks like he’s the taller one. By self-confidence alone. The guy seems so shy. He’s sure blushing a lot. 

_Come on, it can’t be that long to ask for cigarette!_

_At last_ , Billy walks away from the guy, backwards at first until he turns around to face Steve, with what Steve can only describe as a cocky grin. He leads them to the inside of the house, and they settle in the kitchen.

Steve’s mind is still fidgeting.

“What did you say to him?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, pretty boy?”

Oh, _come on_ , is that how it’s gonna be now? Steve chooses to ignore that and just stares at him, keeping his gaze steady but tilting his head a little.

“Do you know if he’s into you?”

“Ooo yeah, he’s completely into me, you can’t even imagine.”

“How d’you know that?”

“ _Harrington_. Didn’t you watch us? He lit my cigarette. And he was so jealous that he couldn’t help looking at you when I said I was here with a friend. Also did he or did he not look at my ass when I turned back to you?”

 _He did_.

But Steve doesn’t want to talk about that guy anymore.

Steve wants to talk about anything but that guy right now.

“So what’s your fourth option?”

“What’s my plan A?”

Steve rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, whatever you call it!”

Billy lightly chuckles.

“I’m surprised you haven’t guessed by now, Harrington.”

No, Steve hasn’t guessed by now and he doesn’t _get it_ , won’t Billy just cut the crap and _say it already?_ His head tilts to the other side to mind-control Billy and make him talk. It works.

“Of all the people at this party, who am I flirting with the most?”

_Who is it?_

“Who?”

Billy chuckles again.

“Of all the people at this party, who is the most _irritated_ ‘bout me flirting with other people?”

 _It’s me_.

Steve’s eyes widen at his own thought like he’s afraid Billy could hear it. But he’s actually sure Billy heard him, because his smile has widened a wolfish size.

Now his voice is purring: “Who’s my plan A, pretty boy?”

Steve’s breath has been knocked out and his eyes are open wide. He only manages to get out a strangled “me?” before spontaneously combusting.

But Billy continues to murmur to the ashes.

“Think about it Harrington, and find me when you make up your mind.” 

He almost walks past him without further teasing, but stops one last time to whisper at Steve’s ear.

“Don’t find me too late, sweetheart.”

If only Robin was here. Because Steve is a complete mess right now. She would know what to do, right? She’d say ‘ _Dingus_ , don’t think about what you should do. Whadda you _want_?’ He looks at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Those ‘pretty boys’ and ‘sweethearts’ are painting his cheeks crimson every time he thinks about them. And now that he thinks about them, he realizes they’re not just from tonight. Billy has called him pet names for way longer than one Halloween evening. And what was Steve thinking again? That Billy was _messing_ with him? Why was he so _oblivious_? 

But he _knows_ why. 

Why does Steve keep himself from gazing too long or from standing too close to some people? Why does Steve deny every single thought that’s out of line? And who made that line? It isn’t Steve, that, he is sure of it. But when he’s searching his memory for a culprit he doesn’t find one. He recalls that line has been traced dot by dot, one at a time, each one by a different person. That line has thickened as he grew up and he didn’t even realize. And now there are people who’re telling him that line has got no meaning. Robin jumped over that line without even looking at it and it wasn’t that big of a deal. Jonathan said that he and David Bowie would spit on that line if they ever saw it. And now Billy is erasing the line stomping on it with his flip flops, a wide, honest grin on his face. As it was made of chalk the whole time. As if Steve could have erased it at any time if he’d wanted.

_Okay, then, I’m getting out of line._

What happens now?

What does that mean?

It means that Steve likes boys too. 

Well, he _also_ -

He likes boys as much as girls and he likes boys and girls just like Billy does.

Steve looks at himself in the mirror again. He looks surprised.

 _Well it wasn’t that hard_. 

Let’s go even further.

Steve does not only like boys, he also likes Billy in particular. So Steve makes up his mind. He’s gonna take the offer. He’s gonna spend the _second part of the night_ with Billy. Billy who’s got Californian blond hair and golden sun-kissed skin even here in Hawkins, even now at Halloween. Billy who wears open shirts to display this skin because he knows Steve can’t _help_ but look at it. Billy who swaggers more than he walks towards Steve and who purrs more than he talks to Steve. 

_How do I look?_

His hair’s a little too flat so he shuffles it, he adjusts his red sleeveless puffer jacket and looks at his butt in the mirror. The good thing about dressing as Marty McFly for Halloween is that he gets to wear his favourite jeans, the ones which make his butt stand out. The downside is that people ask him if he is in fact the guy who almost bangs his mom in the movie and he has to say yes.

Getting out of the bathroom is physically easy but painful on a metaphorical level. After all he entered this room with a totally different state of mind. You could say it’s a kind of spiritual metamorphosis.

When he arrives in the living room, he spots Billy right away, talking to the Clark Kent look-alike again. Or rather eye-fucking him. Steve’s determination falters for a second. But Steve’s butterfly mind comes to the rescue.

_Firstly, he said I’m his plan A. Secondly I’ve got my high-self-confidence-jeans. And thirdly he said I’m his plan A._

Caterpillar-Steve would have left the party, too much of a coward to face _anything_. But Butterfly-Steve is going to walk through the crowd, tell Billy exactly what he wants and get this Californian ass he longed for.

He’s less than two meters away from the sofa now. It’s just a matter of seconds before Billy spots him. He seems to be enjoying his conversation with Superman, though… What did he say again? ‘Don’t find me too late’? Steve is _praying_ for it not to be too late. What if it is? What if-

_Billy’s eyes._

Steve lets out the breath he was keeping inside.

Billy has a little smirk before talking to Steve, and it makes the quarterback turn his head towards him.

“Made up your mind, Harrington?”

_Sorry, Clark Kent, I just had a life-changing talk with myself, so I’m doing what I want._

“Uh, yeah, I’m… I’m out of here, it’s a lame party, so… yeah.”

Steve puts his hands in his pockets to do something before looking up at Billy. His smirk has disappeared and his eyes seem a little sad. _Why?_ Then he does that kind of awkward smiles, the ones you serve your neighbours when you meet them at the grocery store.

“Oh… Okay.”

Steve thought he was being obvious. He raises his eyebrows and tries to intensify his gaze to convey the implication _more_ , but Billy still doesn’t catch it.

“I- I mean, don’t _you_ think it’s a lame party?”

Steve’s voice sounds frantic, even to himself.

 _Finally_ , Billy gets it. How does Steve know? Because _never_ has he been turned on by a look this much. Steve doesn’t know how those eyes are changing but the change is still noticeable. The eyes are the first to switch and the enthusiasm spreads to Billy’s cheeks, and to his smile.

“Yeaah…”

Steve’s dizzy with the way Billy drags that word.

But the trance is broken when Billy turns back to Clark Kent, an amused but compassionate look towards the guy. 

“Well I’m getting out of here…” He pauses and checks out Clark one last time, declares “It’s a shame though.” with a shit-eating grin on once again and stands up from the sofa. 

After throwing a blazing look at Steve, he makes his last goodbye, accompanied by a wink, to the Superman of this party. “And Arthur? Keep being yourself, it suits you.”

At that, _Arthur_ blushes, makes a resigned little smile and waves goodbye at the both of them. He seems like a decent guy, really. Yet Steve’s skin can’t help but pleasantly tingle at the thought that Billy chose him over _Arthur_.

_Bye-bye, Arthur._

Billy chuckles as though he heard Steve while leading the way through the not-as-crowded-as-before living room. Steve notices the disappointed look on Tinker Bell’s eyes when they walk past her and her boyfriend, and feels so smug about it he smirks without even thinking about it. Billy’s walking a couple meters ahead of him, and that _does_ let Steve the leisure to look at him from neck to heels. _Yes_ , Steve is actually turned on by boys. It’s real, guys.

In fact he just can’t _wait_ for them to get out of this party and go anywhere else.

They’re almost at the door when none other than _Robin_ shows herself at the bottom of the stairs, facing the door when Billy reaches it. Is she as surprised as Steve was to see Billy Hargrove at this party?

“Oh, hey, Billy, you havin’ fun?”

Billy swings around at the sound of her voice, and puts on the charm in no time.

“Yeah… and seems like you too, huh? You have lipstick on your neck.”

She brings her hand up to the right side of her neck, blushing under Billy’s smug grin.

“Yeah, well- Oh, you’re leavin’ already? I thought you’d-”

She cuts herself when she sees Steve, and the same grin as Billy shows itself on her face.

“Hey Steve!”

Steve clears his throat before responding.

“H-Hey!”

Her eyebrows raise in an annoyingly condescending way.

“You’re leaving too?”

Steve swallows. He can feel his cheeks boiling.

“H-yeeah.”

She chuckles and her face brightens.

Her mouth says: “Okay, then! Bye Billy! _Have fun_ , Steve!”

Her eyes say ‘If you don’t tell me about it first thing Monday, Dingus, we’ll have a problem.’

As soon as the door closes behind them, everything exterior dims. The sounds, the heat and the eyes of the party are all left behind the door, and that lets Steve some kind of space to breathe in deeply and relax. Billy’s voice is ever so soft now that they’re alone.

“So… We’re out of this party now.”

They’re still at the porch but Steve concedes it’s true. He’s sure he’s still blushing, but that’s not as big of a deal as before. Should he find something to say? He really doesn’t know what, mind you. But Billy continues before anything resembling panic gets to Steve’s brain.

“Where d’you wanna go?”

_Somewhere the stars are visible?_

The quarry? No, a little too creepy and a little too crowded with horny teenagers at this time of a Halloween night. 

The junkyard? Even if there was action there, Steve feels confident going back. It’s not like the Byers’ house somehow. That junkyard, he had a lot of occasions printing other memories on it. And weirdly, it’s teenagers-free most of the time. 

“We could go- to the junkyard?”

Billy lets out a chuckle. Has Steve already said that he likes those too?

“You don’t need to make the doe eyes at me, Harrington, I’m already down for it!”

“Do we go there with my car?”

Was that a wrong thing to say? Because Billy does not _freeze_ exactly, but still gets a little stiff. And the look he had before talking to Steve about Clark Kent is back. But he relaxes again as it didn’t happen then suggests that they both take their own car and that Steve leads the way.

They’re both parked a little walk away from the house, in the same direction. Billy gets to his first, and Steve’s is two houses away. Something suddenly fleets through Steve’s mind when Billy unlocks his door.

“Billy, how much did you have to drink tonight?”

Billy rolls his eyes while shrugging on the leather jacket he left on the driver’s seat.

“Two beers, and the last one was an hour ago. What about you, Harrington?”

“Uh, like, half a beer. I don’t really like to drink on my own.”

Billy’s look gets smug at that piece of information. His eyes are wearing that little hint of condescendence again.

“Are we good, pretty boy?”

“Yeah, I’ll just… get my car!”

The drive there makes Steve think. He puts that Tears For Fears tape he bought last week and can’t wipe the smile off his face. He has the sensation that so much happened that evening when in fact nothing really happened yet with Billy. 

_That’s bullshit, ‘nothing happened’! Of course things have happened, important things, even!_

Yeah, maybe a lot of things actually happened tonight even if it was in Steve’s mind. A lot of first times actually. He came to accept his… preferences for the first time, he got hit on by a guy for the first time. Well, _realized_ he was being hit on by a guy for the first time. And liked it.

 _God_ , did Steve like it. Billy was by far the hottest person at this party, and he wants to go to the car graveyard with _Steve_.

_Something happens and I’m head over heels_

_Ah, don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart, don’t, don’t, don’t throw it away_ …

As expected, there’s no one in the junkyard, and the zombie school bus is still there, always there, even if it’s not barricaded anymore. Steve cuts the contact and gets out of the driver’s seat to go lean on the hood of his car, waiting for Billy to park beside him.

As Billy gets out of his Camaro, Steve searches his pockets for a cigarette, but the last one from his pack drowned in the pool. Billy swaggers with so much self-confidence Steve wonders if he ever experienced fear. He leans beside Steve, pleasantly but not overwhelmingly close. He’s got a shyer smile than at the party.

“So… You brought me here to kill me or something?”

“What? No!”

“Just kidding, Harrington.”

It seems like he’s half-kidding though. He’s looking at the ground. Steve feels an urge to take the conversation somewhere else.

“So… What are you doing now?”

_Well, could’ve done better but I think I prefer awkward to half-scared._

“What do you mean?”

“Well, now that high school’s over, you working somewhere, or… doing anything?”

Billy laughs full-heartedly.

“High school’s not over for me, Harrington, I’m in senior year now.”

“Wh- but we were in algebra class together last year!”

Billy has a smug smile again, and with his head tilted to the side, Steve feels even more like a dumbass.

“Yeah, and now that I’m in senior year I’m in advanced algebra.”

Why is Steve so stupid sometimes?

“Wow… So you’re in Nancy’s year?”

Billy sighs.

“Yeah I’m with Bonnie and, or Clyde half of my classes.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know you were a year younger.”

At that, Billy looks at him. Like, _really_ looks at him. Then his smile grows a little wider and he licks his bottom lip. _Yes_ , Steve notices that kind of things now.

“Yeah, how could you not know that?” 

His voice is a purr, almost a whisper, and playfully, he goes from leaning on his side of the hood to having his chest millimetres from touching Steve’s. His hands are on each side of Steve’s hips and he’s deliciously leaning forward. 

“How could you not notice _me_ , huh?” he bites his smiling bottom lip, eyes fleeting down for a second.

“I did, I just…”

Billy continues to look at him intently, a crooked grin blossoming on his lips.

Steve has difficulties breathing.

“Y-You know, I think I’d be more… at ease if I was leading this.” Steve achieves to get out of his mouth between two ragged breaths.

Billy removes his hands of the hood to put them in his pockets, and Steve misses his heat the second he leans backwards. Billy does not move his feet though, so he’s still comfortably close. And his playful smile is still on.

“You wanna lead things, pretty boy? What exacty’s stopping you?”

Steve needs to process this for a second or two before understanding it’s a dare. When it all clicks his eyebrows raise, partly in surprise and partly to ask if it is, in fact, okay. The little bite Billy makes on his bottom lip seems to be a green light.

_Better not think too much or I’m gonna chicken out._

So Steve takes handfuls of Billy’s jacket and hauls the entirety of him towards himself, in one greedy motion. Billy has to take a hand out of his pocket and grab the hood to keep a semblance of balance. 

It’s not Steve’s best kiss regarding technique, but it might be Steve’s best kiss regarding enthusiasm. And that means enthusiasm from both participants. Not that his past kisses have lacked it somehow, but this particular one has such an amount that he _notices_ its presence. 

After this vertiginous dive Steve needs a few seconds of immobility to breathe in. So _maybe_ the first few seconds of this kiss are really awkward. When he’s done regaining his composure he can finally move his lips to capture Billy’s bottom one. He’s rewarded with a small sigh making his ears buzz.

His hands wander a little before settling, one on Billy’s hip, one on Billy’s shoulder, allowing Steve to guide the other boy backwards a little bit and turning around so they switch spots. During this process, Billy grabs Steve’s upper arm up the shoulder side and searches behind for the car with his other hand to steady himself. He really has a strong grip on Steve’s triceps and Steve has to open his eyes to see if it means something bad, but Billy’s eyes are closed. So Steve guesses it’s how Billy’s grip normally is. His own eyes flutter close.

_Billy’s lips._

At first they felt a little chapped from the October dry air but after being tormented by Steve’s for more than five minutes they’re exquisitely wet and pliant. Steve also notices that their moves are in sync with his now, which makes the kiss a lot less messy, a lot more dizzying.

This allows Steve’s mind to go astray elsewhere, for example on Billy’s hands: when did they both land in Steve’s hair, huh? Not that he minds, but the moment when they did the journey from the car to the neck, then to the hair, Steve does not recall. He recalls the neck, then the hair, and before that? Well who cares? Now they’re slightly tugging and Steve can’t be bothered with history. In fact Steve notices that his hands too have moved from the place they were on when he last thought about them. They’re now at Billy’s waist, trying to feel skin through this _stupid_ shirt. 

The fabric is the _stupid_ slippery synthetic type and Steve was expecting it, but it’s still exasperating.

Billy breaks the kiss in a frustrated sigh, hooded eyes still on Steve’s lips, to put words on those thoughts.

“Hey, Harrington, don’t you wonder why I wear my shirt this way? It’s so people don’t even have to open it, not so you hesitate all night and never put your hands here.”

Well that settles it. Locking their lips back together, Steve lets his hands slither under this idiotic fabric to taste that skin with his fingertips. That also serves to switch off this _attitude_. 

Steve’s hands return where they were, free at last from the dumbass shirt, then crawl on Billy’s warm back, making both their chests much closer than before. Steve would actually say that ‘closer’ is a euphemism given the fact that their chests are now _imbricated_ in one another.

Is that what makes Billy moan shamelessly at this very moment? Steve has no clue. Well Steve has no clue concerning… anything. The only thing he can think about right now are Billy’s hands tugging at his hair, Billy’s moan reddening his ears, Billy’s tongue exploring his bottom lip.

Billy is slowly leaning backwards, causing both their bodies to spiral upside down. Steve has to open his eyes to ensure his feet are not actually up in the sky and that Billy is leaning backwards to a point physics allow him to. 

Breaking the kiss, Steve wonders aloud if Billy’s cold in this economy.

“I- I meant in this weather.”

That changes nothing to Billy’s reaction. The only things holding Billy’s shaking body from falling head and back on the cold metal hood of the car are Steve’s arm, and he feels he’s gonna let go if Billy’s roaring laughter doesn’t _at least_ tone down a little in the next few seconds. Because of the weight, of course, but also of the growing feeling of being ridiculed.

Bringing himself back together, the mocking mess looks at the windshield then drags his hooded eyes towards Steve’s.

“’m not cold, pretty boy… But I don’t mind going inside if that’s what you wanted to ask.”

This lewd grin must be written somewhere as illegal. It makes Steve really impulsive somehow.

“Yeah, that was… what I was going for.”

Steve’s hands fall on Billy’s hips again while he hops off the car but those hips are soon out of his reach as Billy walks backwards to the backdoor of Steve’s car with still that smirk on his face. Steve’s feet move of their own accord and soon he’s unceremoniously hauled by the sleeve in the backseat.

It feels like the events are going faster than Steve’s mind. One moment he was almost falling on the backseat face first and the other he’s sitting his back against the closed door, one _very enthusiastic_ Billy straddling him and biting the tip of his own tongue, eyes already nibbling at Steve’s mouth.

Steve places his hands back where they belong and closes the space between their mouths. They quickly restore the heat of the moment, so quickly in fact it makes Steve randomly think of that Asia song. It’s polluting his thoughts so badly he has to break the kiss to look at _something_ to try not to laugh. Luckily Billy’s obscene eyes ground him a little bit.

“Not that cold now that we’re inside, donchathink?”

Some kind of _almost unnoticeable_ whine gets out of Steve’s mouth without warning. It only makes Billy’s voice more of a purr.

“Maybe you could take off… both your jackets?”

Halfway through the motion Steve suddenly wants to not be the only one without clothes in this car.

“What about _your_ jacket?”

Billy’s grin widens lecherously.

“You can take it off too.”

Discarding the denim and the puffer jackets _fuckin’anywhere_ , Steve pushes the leather off Billy’s shoulders, arms and hands and throws it somewhere in the front part of the car, really, _who cares?_ With all this fumbling, Billy’s shirt is pushed down a shoulder too, giving a mouth-watering show to Steve’s eyes.

“Like what you see, Harrington?”

Steve bites his lip running his hands on that skin. His eyes then return to Billy’s mouth.

“Yeah, but- I mean, aren’t we passed last names, now?”

“Mm… Maybe.”

This argument is cut short. Steve clashes their mouths together again. It doesn’t seem to unsettle Billy. He just leans backwards, gently kneading Steve’s nape, changing his position from straddling Steve kneeling to straddling Steve cross-legged. This causes two things. One is a change of angle, which unlocks a multitude of new places in Billy’s mouth for Steve’s tongue to wander through. The other is a now clear inrush of blood in Steve’s Southern region.

_You don’t need to make the doe eyes at me, Harrington, I’m already down for it._

Steve loses track of time during that delectable exploration. Every time his tongue breaks apart from Billy’s he forgets its taste and needs to taste it again. One of his hands is resting on the small of Billy’s back while the other is making out the way all of this skin is sculpted. His hair is chaotically tangled again with Billy’s fingers. And both these statements seem to relate through a cause-consequence link. Indeed, Steve feels a slight pull every time he brushes something slightly prominent like a nipple or a collarbone, and it is sometimes accompanied by alterations in Billy’s breath.

Soon two hands feel like too short of an amount to satisfyingly touch everything. Steve decides for his hands to concede Billy’s shoulders and neck to his mouth so every centimeter of skin gets the attention it deserves. 

There’s a shiver escaping Billy’s mouth every now and then while Steve’s busy inflicting bites and flicks of tongue to his shoulder. Slowly but surely, Billy’s hips slide forward until they nestle against Steve’s. _This_ is something Steve has never experienced before. Having someone with a boner in close contact with his _own_ boner. 

And _God_ , it isn’t the only thing he’s first experiencing right now. Billy’s starting to grind his hips against him and Steve’s mind is so focused on it he doesn’t move his lips on Billy’s shoulder anymore. His hair is gently tugged to tip his head backwards a little and Billy’s lips are on Steve’s again, his tongue probing into Steve’s mouth. 

Steve’s mind is pleasantly overwhelmed by all these sensations. Billy’s tongue’s languid motion against his own, Billy’s skin, muscles and shivers, under his fingertips, Billy’s hips and Billy’s… yeah, boner, rubbing just the right way – it fucks up Steve’s mental faculties so much he could hear voices right now. 

And Billy is _still_ tugging at his hair. 

And Steve is _definitely_ hearing voices.

And Billy’s whole body violently jerks at the hand slamming on the window opposite Steve’s suddenly livid face.

“Steve? Is that you?”

There’s the shadow of an almost afro cut on the window. And with that slight lisp, it can only be one person.

“D-Dustin?”

“Yeah, uh…” Some indistinct whispering catches Steve’s ears. “Max is asking if Billy’s with you…”

Billy’s terrified look prevents Steve from answering right away. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s getting on with guys, which is understandable.

“N-No, he’s not!”

But Billy widens his eyes in a mute and panicked exasperation.

It is Max’s voice they hear this time. 

“Oh, yeah? And what’s his car doing here, then?”

Billy’s eyebrows just raise at Steve as if to say ‘See?’ and he’s quite forced to give an answer now.

“I’m here, Max.”

There’s a pause, heavily charged in panic, awkwardness and, it seems, resignation from Billy’s side. 

Then Dustin speaks again.

“Uh, wh- what are you doing?”

At that, Billy’s cup seems to be finally overfilled, and he briskly goes from anxiously resigned to utterly pissed off.

“What do you _think_ , shithead?”

Steve really doesn’t want Billy to go full roaring lion, so he squeezes at his thigh as an attempt to ground him, to make him look at his eyes. 

He didn’t expect it to work, to be honest. 

Billy experiences fear, now Steve knows. So, squeezing his thigh again, he whispers “Let me take care of this, okay?”

Billy looks too taken aback to react. Steve keeps his eyes to Billy’s face while searching for his jackets and gets out of the car to face the _entire_ Party.

Dustin’s looking at him with an expression of pure astonishment. Steve doesn’t look at his eyes.

“Look, whatever you think, it’s not-”

“Oh, you mean Billy and you in the backseat of your car in a remote place is actually not what we think it is, is that what you’re gonna say to us? You think we’re that stupid?” Max is getting red in the face with irritation.

So Steve takes a harsher tone. “No, what I’m _saying_ is that whatever you think is happening, it’s not your business anyway.” And at that Max seems to swallow back what she had wanted to say. 

With a much calmer voice, Steve continues.

“Anyway, guys, what are you all doing here? Aren’t you supposed to go trick or treating or something? Will, I thought your mother made Jonathan go with you!”

“But –”

Billy gets out of the car (his shirt covering his shoulders again, fortunately) and interrupts Will to address Max.

“Yeah, and last time I checked, I was driving you to Jane’s for a _sleepover_.” Then his eyes turn at El. “Where does Hopper think you are?”

El looks around at Max.

“In Mike’s basement, playing DnD…”

Billy crosses his arms at that, turns at Mike this time, eyes severe.

“And where does Karen think you are?”

At that Steve’s eyebrow shoot upwards. 

“Wait. You’re calling Mike’s mum ‘Karen’ but you’re calling _me_ ‘Harrington’?” Steve is _affronted_. 

Will chuckles a little, but his laugh dies out at Mikes confused bitch face.

Mike’s heated _‘What?’_ is followed by Will daring to put words on what Steve’s fear was. 

“Well don’t you see what it implies?”

After two seconds of confusion Mike’s mouth opens in horror and his eyes turn to Billy again, his face almost purple. It would be funny if Steve wasn’t desperate not to know about any of it.

“You– My _mom_ –”

“Hey, you calm down, midget, I _didn’t bang your mum_ , okay?” He turns to Steve at that, his face relaxing completely, and smugness coming back to his features “Not that she wasn’t down for it, I can tell you.”

“STOP TALKING ABOUT MY MOM!!”

“Hey, you’re NOT SHOUTING AT ME LIKE THAT, SHITHEAD!”

Steve feels that he has to soothe the mood right now or he’s not gonna be able to.

“Look, everyONE SHUT _UP_!”

Weirdly, everyone _does_ shut up at Steve’s outburst. Even Billy. They’re all expecting him to talk now. Steve takes a breath to compose himself a bit.

“Let’s _calm down_ a little, okay? Billy doesn’t mean it like that, Mike” Billy scoffs but doesn’t say anything at Steve’s look. “The thing _is_ , it seems that none of the adults know where you all really are. Am I mistaken?”

The kids are all looking down and none of them are denying it, which is a bad sign. But in an act of bravery, Dustin speaks, with a shy voice.

“Well now _you_ know where we are, and you’re almost an adult…”

At that Billy turns to Max again, visibly fed up by everyone else.

“Look, I don’t care what you and your nerds are on about, but you’re not hanging out in a fucking car graveyard in the middle of the night with no means of communication whatsoever! What if there’s some creep lurking around, huh?”

Steve looks pointedly at El and Dustin and continues on that line of thought.

“Yeah, or some _dangerous wild animal_?”

But Dustin’s excited reaction is not what Steve was trying to cause.

“But we’re not without any means of communication! Steve, you still have the walkie-talkie I gave you, right?” 

Dustin is so hopeful Steve _has_ to tell the truth. But not without an exasperated sigh beforehand.

“Yeah, in my glove compartment.”

“Well then we can contact you if there’s an emergency!”

Billy gives an intensely questioning look to Steve.

“I _do_ have the walkie-talkie in my car.” Steve concedes.

Billy returns his gaze to Max’s face.

“What are you gonna do here with your nerds anyway?”

Max’s face brightens instantly. “We’re gonna play Dungeons and Dragons, and I’m gonna be the Dungeon Master and I’ve made a special quest for Halloween and we have to go in the bus to do it.” She’s red faced from telling all this without breathing.

Billy rolls his eyes and puts his hands in his jeans pockets. He seems relaxed on the outside, but Steve feels like his look is the same he gave him earlier this night.

“Ok, let’s make a deal, monkey.”

Max shakes her head once, a hopeful smile bursting on her face. Billy points at her.

“You can play dweeb master with your geek friends _if_ – and that’s not negotiable – _if_ you don’t say a _word_ about what you saw – I’m serious, not _one word_ out of place – if you don’t say a word to Neil, d’you understand?”

At the last part of Billy’s sentence, Max’s smile is wiped away and replaced with a face of utter indignation. When she opens her mouth again she is screaming.

“WHAT?! Is this how you see me?! Are you a complete MORON?! I HATE NEIL! I _HATE_ HIM!”

She’s not at all like she was five seconds ago. She’s all crimson from rage and her hair is out of place. But it’s nothing compared to Billy’s five seconds transformation. He went from a calm, almost amused and a little condescending façade to the defensive, closed stance of a wounded animal. His arms are crossed and rigid, and he leans as far back as he can against the car. His eyes are on the verge of tears.

Neither Steve nor any of the other kids dare to make a move, or to let out a sound.

None of the siblings talk for _at least_ ten or twenty seconds, and Steve has never experienced a longer moment. He has no way of knowing how this will end because everything seems to be conveyed through Billy’s and Max’s eyes, steadily fixed at each other the entire time.

Still stiff, Billy lets out a small breath, his gaze apprehensive.

“You’re all staying together the _whole_ evening? No matter what?”

Max’s shining smile returns even brighter than before, and she nods vigorously. The tension in Billy’s whole body seems to slowly wear off, if the tired smile he serves Max is any indication. The look he gives her is difficult to interpret for Steve. It could be… slightly scared, or hopeful… or grateful. Billy lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Have fun, midget.”

Max shouts a triumphant ‘YES!’ before hugging Billy’s waist. It takes a few seconds for him to reciprocate, and even then he looks like he doesn’t know where to put himself, patting the top of her head with an awkward smile. It’s as if it’s the first hug they’re sharing.

After testing the walkie-talkie to be sure it’s still functioning, Steve reluctantly lets the kids go inside the zombie school bus, anxiety still nagging his insides.

_There’s no reason they should be in danger, everything interdimensional is supposed to have been either eradicated or safely put back to its side._

Billy’s watching his concerned expression.

“Is it safe to let them here?”

“Well… I mean – There’s no reason– And they can call me– I mean– I don’t see why–”

“You brought me here in the first place. Isn’t it at least a _little_ safe?”

Steve lifts his eyes at Billy. The reason it felt safe for Billy and him to go there is the reason he’s anxious to leave them. No one comes here. But it’s not like the quarry, it’s not that far away from civilisation. From his house and with a little kick at the accelerator he can be here within five minutes. And Billy’s an excellent kisser. And the kids proved many times they can manage a crisis until the adults arrive. And Steve really wants to know what Billy was going to do after grinding against him like he did. He really needs to know.

_Let’s make a compromise._

He opens the trunk of the car and gets his bat out. Billy takes a quick step backwards.

“The _fuck_ are you gonna do with that?”

Billy’s panicked voice startles Steve, and he doesn’t understand at first. Then it strikes him _he_ would be on his guard too if someone was taking a nailed bat out of their trunk in front of him. Especially if the same bat had once been mere inches away from crushing his balls.

“No, it’s- I think I’ll give it to them for tonight in case… You know.”

Billy relaxes his shoulders but he still looks apprehensive. But Steve doesn’t know what more to say to reassure him. He just goes to the door of the bus without a word and gives it to Dustin (“It’s not a toy, man!”) before returning to Billy, hands in his pockets.

“So… I guess we can’t do anything here now the kids are… you know.”

Billy’s not looking at his eyes. He just makes a resigned kind of laugh and crosses his arms again.

“I guess not…”

At first Steve doesn’t understand why Billy’s getting back into his car. But when he puts the contact on and the engine roars, Steve realizes with panic stricken eyes that his words were, again, misunderstood. So he runs for the driver’s window of the Camaro before Billy can lower the handbrake and bangs on it for Billy to open it.

“What the _fuck_ , pretty boy? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

_The good sign is, he’s still calling me pretty boy._

“Look, I said we can’t do anything _here_ , but I didn’t say we couldn’t do anything… at all, anymore, you know.”

Steve swallows in apprehension. Maybe Billy was ‘misunderstanding’ on purpose. Maybe he didn’t want to continue this thing after all and-

“And where d’you wanna go sweetheart?”

The charm he emanates is dangerously arousing. Steve can only smile like a fucking virgin invited to a party by their crush. 

“Well, I mean… My house is empty, so…”

Billy’s suddenly indignant eyes stop him in his track.

“Your house is _empty_ and you brought me to the creepy _car graveyard_?!”

Now that Steve thinks about it… A nervous laugh escapes his mouth.

“Y-Yeah when you say it like that…”

Billy shakes his head in… amused disbelief if Steve’s good at interpretation.

“No, no, proves you’re really _my style_ , is all.” Billy grins widely so Steve supposes that, no, he’s not really upset.

_Proves I’m really his style?_

Billy talks again before Steve can get it.

“So are you leading the way?”

Not even two minutes after leaving the bus behind, a crumpled version of Dustin’s voice comes on the walkie-talkie.

“Steve?”

Steve’s immediate reaction is panic at the thought of some major catastrophe happening right after he left the kids all by themselves. He throws himself at the thing on the passenger seat, almost driving into a trash can.

“Yeah, I’m here, what’s the matter?”

“What are you doing?”

Dustin’s tone wouldn’t be so casual if something bad _had_ happened. Steve sighs.

“Come on, didn’t we say ‘in case of an emergency’?”

“Yeah, but… Are you with Billy?”

“No, I’m on the way to my house.”

“Oh so you’re not… you know-”

Steve hears the others mumbling behind Dustin’s voice. Is _this_ what they want to know? _Really?_

“He’s on the way to my house too.”

Dustin does not answer during fifteen good seconds.

“But… Steve why do you want to… h-have sex with _Billy_ of all people?”

 _Oh_. It’s _this_ they want to know. 

Steve doesn’t quite know what to say. Is Dustin disgusted? He swallows before answering.

“Look, I don’t know, okay, it’s pretty new for me to… accept this, so… I don’t know what to say to you.”

“But he beat you up to a pulp ‘til you were unconscious last year, did you just- forget that?”

 _Oh._

It’s actually _this._

“I know…”

Yeah, Billy _did_ beat him to a pulp like, almost exactly a year ago.

“Look I know it’s not… I know it’s weird, okay. And you have to be careful who you give second chances to, but I _promise you_ , if anything indicates that he’s not changed after all I’m never approaching him again.”

Steve bites at his lips in anticipation for Dustin’s answer. Dustin’s not just a kid. His… approval turns out to matter just as much as Robin’s. 

After a moment Dustin’s voice returns, still half shy half doubtful.

“Okay…”

The sigh of relief Steve lets out is much too real for him to handle. He’ll think about it later. 

Parking in his driveway, he stays in his car a little more to say goodbye.

“Look, I’m home now, I’ll leave you, call if you have _an emergency_ , okay? Have a great game, guys! Over.”

“Yeah, ha- HAVE FUN STEVE! - shut up, _I’m_ talking! Have fun, Steve, uh- Over.”

Getting out of the car, he sees the window of the Camaro slide down, Billy half yelling “I’m gonna park down the street!” and rolling out of view before he can process everything. It was such a dumb hit to think about the junkyard _before_ his own house. Steve can make some pretty stupid-ass moves when _he_ takes the decisions.

When Billy slides inside the hallway a couple of minutes later Steve has already removed his jackets, shoes and socks. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to see Billy here. In his house. In such a familiar light. Steve is the one who lives the highest amount of days in this house so he chooses the lightbulbs. Billy looks much warmer than at the party or in the car. His eyes gleam with flecks of orange from the inside of Steve’s living room instead of the desaturated green of an evening sky already reeking of winter.

His jacket is slowly discarded on the floor, next to his covered ankle and his flip-flopped feet. Steve catches Billy’s eyes again, raising his eyebrows:

“Did you drive with these?”

“ _No_ , I drove barefoot!” 

Billy pauses for a couple of seconds as though indignant, then says “D’you have a shower I can use, my feet are disgusting.” 

There’s a barely suppressed smile there that makes Steve chuckle, shake his head and gesture Billy to follow him.

The water starts running and Billy sits on the edge of the bathtub, removing his _leash_ thing and letting it fall on the ground. Steve doesn’t know if he should stay in the bathroom too. As Billy starts scrubbing his feet he lifts his eyes to Steve’s face, a mischievous smile plastered on his face. 

“Is this yours?”

Steve looks at the huge pile of hair product beside the sink.

“No, these are my mother’s. It’s my parents’ bathroom.”

Steve strategically forgets to mention that the pile in his bathroom is almost as big.

“Funny, I would’ve thought it was yours. Honestly never understood how it holds up like that.”

Billy seems rather amused. Steve decides to answer with cheek.

“What about your hair?”

Billy laughs wholeheartedly.

“Oh, I’ve got the double of that in my room!” 

_Oh_. So it wasn’t to make fun of him.

Billy closes the tap and Steve throws him a towel, not thinking about it until the other smiles at him in return. He’d like to say he doesn’t blush, but the whole evening has already challenged this rule too much.

His attention returning on the wiping of his feet, Billy talks again, his voice so casual Steve doesn’t get his words right away.

“Liked your costume tonight, Harrington… Really brings out your ass.”

After three seconds Steve chuckles nervously and does not mention this was the effect he expected to induce.

Billy continues.

“I mean, really… All night in a corner of my mind I was just, like… I just wanna squeeze it hard, you know…”

His eyes are impossible to get away from, and Steve bites his cheek before answering, surprised his voice isn’t trembling.

“Well- I mean, you can try.”

The corner of his mouth twitches as Billy unsuccessfully tries to suppress a wider smile. There’s a moment of complete homeostasis, abruptly smashed by Billy jumping out of the bathtub. Steve bursts in laughter as he runs out of the bathroom, Billy at his heels. As he runs up the stairs, he turns around as the huge thud of someone falling over reaches him. But Billy swiftly gets back on his feet, still laughing, so Steve runs to his room, and stands in the middle of it facing the door when he gets inside, breathing harshly.

Billy runs in a few seconds after, and pauses to lean against the doorframe, out of breath and grinning like a kid.

“Waiting for me?”

Steve chuckles at that. He feels jittery. Billy quickly crosses the space between them, his hands going straight for Steve’s ass. Which pushes a surprised little whimper out of Steve’s mouth. Which makes Billy grin even wider.

“I gotta say, no one ever lured me into their room like that, Harrington…” 

Billy bites his bottom lip and it should be distracting but Steve is getting annoyed, and he knows the next sentence he pronounces must sound angry.

“Come on, j- huh- Just call me Steve, you’ve got your hands on my butt!”

Steve is getting more frustrated every time Billy calls him by his last name. Especially now that he knows he calls Nancy’s mom ‘Karen’. Especially when he made that comment about her being ‘completely down for it’. He’s expecting him to brush it off like he did earlier this evening but Billy’s face actually looks concerned. He opens his mouth a first time as if trying to say something but nothing comes out. The second time though, Steve hears the last thing he expected from him: an apology. For something as little as that.

“S- Sorry… I’m just used to it… won’t call you by your last name anymore, promise. Is that good?”

This is about the moment Steve feels like Billy really _has_ changed over the course of one year. So his voice softens.

“Yeah, it’s… I’m- it’s okay…”

Billy’s voice also softens, in a way that makes Steve’s skin rouse. Also his hands are still on Steve’s ass, so that contributes.

“And what about… pretty boy… sweetheart… baby and such?”

Billy’s lips are hovering a few millimetres from his jaw. Steve has to make a conscious effort to keep his eyes from fluttering close. 

“I- don’t mind…”

“You don’t _mind_ … But d’you _like_ it?”

Steve can’t hold back his sigh when Billy’s breath brushes his ear. His eyelids finally get the best of him.

“Yeah, I… h- I like it…”

He feels Billy breathe hard at that, and soon Steve’s lips are claimed while his butt is getting squeezed, _hard_. Steve’s hands grasp at Billy’s shoulders and neck, his fingers slowly going upwards to pull at the hair just above his nape.

Over the course of a few minutes, everything gets much more horizontal. Also Billy’s shirt gets lost in the tumult at some point Steve cannot identify. After holding Billy’s shoulders for dear life when they fell on the bed, Steve felt it was his turn to knead Billy’s ass. And as it was so accessible, Billy falling on top of him, he didn’t hesitate long. Now Steve’s really glad they’re back to the point where Billy is grinding against him. It takes no time for him to be up and about.

Billy’s hands are slithering under his t-shirt, so Steve expects him to lick into his mouth, but instead he breaks up the kiss.

“You know, I just wanna make it clear, ‘cause I don’t want you to get ideas-”

 _Oh no_. This is never a good sign. Is Steve not allowed to get his hands here? Is it ‘just a one-time thing’? Not that Steve had already considered the other possibilities but he’s not sure he’ll like it if there are none at all.

“-I didn’t fuck with Nancy’s mum, okay? Never. And it’ll never happen, I’m not a fucking boy toy.”

Steve’s lungs deflate in relief and he chuckles, nervousness lowering by several levels. It makes him regain enough guts to switch places with Billy to get on top – and grind against him himself. The other boy’s eyebrows’ are high in surprise but the worrying of his bottom lip makes Steve almost sure that it was the right thing to do. Billy has a childish beam as Steve’s hand gets behind his thigh.

“Ooh, yeah, you wanna _lead_ things, right?”

Steve’s ears boil at that because, again, Billy’s grin is like a child’s at Christmas. Too sheepish to answer that, he hides his face in Billy’s neck, nipping at the flesh knowing fully well Billy saw his little outburst of bashfulness. Billy sighs and tilts his head backwards, exposing more of his neck to Steve’s teeth. Billy’s Cologne would leave anyone deliciously lightheaded, if you ask Steve. 

He feels Billy’s chest quiver at the attention, and his hums in time with Steve’s hips’ thrusts. Billy is clutching at his hair, his shoulders, his t-shirt, so intensely Steve harshly shoves it above his head and throws it aside. He only has a second to catch Billy’s avid stare at his torso before diving again, to nip at his lip this time.

One arm steadying him to keep kissing Billy, Steve slides his hand down Billy’s ribs, side, to his hip, and slips his fingers under the fabric of his jeans. Billy’s back arches towards him, seemingly to allow his hand further down the side of his ass. The further Steve goes, the more astounded he turns out to be. It must show, because Billy turns expectant.

“What is it?”

“J- You don’t have underwear?”

“It’s Friday night.” Billy says, very matter-of-factly.

“And… What? Friday night is commando night?” Steve says with a giggle.

“No underpants on party nights, pretty boy, that’s one of my mottos.”

Billy gets a blazing look after saying that. Steve may be biased by his own desires, but he feels like it means ‘Take my pants off’. His hand goes on the upper button of it, watching the other for a reaction. As Billy licks his lips and smiles wider, he thinks he’s figuring him out better every minute. 

Undoing the buttons with one hand isn’t easy, so Steve sits between Billy’s legs to get it done. You’d think (well, the old Steve would’ve thought) that Billy, macho-man Billy, would look at least a little vulnerable with his legs open like that towards Steve, but the blazing gaze he inflicts on him shows how in control he still is. 

Biting his cheek, Steve pulls at the fabric as Billy lifts his hips from the mattress. Billy then sits up to finish removing the jeans from his ankles. Steve lets his hands brush the side of his hips, eyes fixed on his cock.

He saw it before, but never in this context, and never in this- state. It’s… extremely flushed.

Billy’s finger tilts Steve’s chin up, bringing him to eye level again.

“Shy?”

Steve’s not _shy_ , he just never _saw_ another guy’s erected cock in real life. He blabbers an indignant ‘No!’ before glancing down at it again for a split second.

“Good! _So_ … Is it your turn then?”

Billy has a finger hooked at Steve’s waistband saying this.

Steve doesn’t wait for Billy to say more. He seizes Billy’s chin in one hand and almost tackles him down on the mattress while fumbling with his pants, soon kicking them off to the floor.

To be in close contact with every _fucking_ bit of Billy’s skin is an enthralling sensation. And something in Billy’s way of breathing makes Steve believe he agrees. He drags his fingers down Steve’s spine, he bites at Steve’s lip and plays with Steve’s tongue, he thrusts upwards into Steve’s belly. 

He sinks Steve’s mind into a scorching daze and he can only groan as he thrusts back into Billy’s upper thigh. 

Steve wonders if he can touch him _there_. Lifting his head from Billy’s neck, he slowly drags his finger downwards from Billy’s navel, breathless.

“Can I, uh-”

Billy doesn’t wait for him to finish.

“Go on, sweetheart…”

He drags his tongue between his teeth and steadies his eyes on Steve’s, while his hand too goes down, and down, to the skin joining Steve’s thigh and abdomen. Billy raises his eyebrows at Steve’s involuntarily astounded face. As an answer, Steve closes his hand around the base of Billy’s cock while leaning down to gently sink his teeth into his collarbone, and hums as Billy runs his finger from base to tip, teasing.

Steve startles when Billy pushes his shoulder away, but before alarm can start to tickle his mind, Billy makes a show of himself copiously licking his hand before taking hold of Steve’s shaft, all the while grinning like a Cheshire cat.

It’s only when Billy starts to stroke him that Steve mirrors his gestures. Billy’s fingers are digging in his nape or pumping him, drawing out soft whines from his throat. Steve was never loud before.

They jack each other off this way for quite some time and Steve feels all jittery with want. He thrusts harder into Billy’s hand, craving release _right now_. Billy, though a little more dishevelled than earlier, doesn’t seem as close as him.

“Getting all riled up, pretty boy?”

Biting his lip, Steve nods, looking into Billy’s eyes. There he sees it. Billy’s starting to lose it, _finally_. His eyes are almost all black even in the light of Steve’s bedside lamp. He tilts his head to one side, chest heaving hard.

“Wanna fuck me?”

Steve’s brain short-circuits. He feels his head going back and forth before even processing the question.

“D’you have condoms?-” Steve violently nods. “And- and lube? Cause I got some in my car but I parked it like-” Steve dives onto Billy’s lips seizing his jaw in both his hands and screwing his eyes shut. 

Lightheaded, he gets out of the bed and goes to search his closet under the sock drawer, telling Billy to look into the nightstand for the condoms. After all it goes more smoothly with some teamwork.

“Why d’you keep your condoms here but your lube in the far corner of your closet, pretty boy?”

Billy’s _voice_.

Steve _hears_ the cocky attitude, which makes him even hotter inside, but he knows he _senses_ something else. Like Billy’s mind is squirming. Like something related to this _look_ earlier.

Steve climbs back on the bed, searching into Billy’s eyes for anything he doesn’t disclose.

“I don’t know, I guess… like if anyone searches in the nightstand it’s the minimal amount of things they need to know.”

Billy’s gaze turns playful. And his voice falls lower.

“Hmm… And what else d’you hide in that closet, huh?”

“Oh, uh, nothing else than the lube, really, I mean- maybe someday I’ll have more secrets to hide but… Guess it’s a little stupid.”

Steve looks at Billy’s eyes again, and finds that he seems to be a little more comfortable. He tries on his sweetest smile before leaning in again. Billy’s arms lock around his shoulders and they fall with Billy’s back on the mattress, his hair getting slightly more tousled again. Steve goes down to nip at Billy’s neck, dragging a finger up and down his side. Billy’s chest is heaving erratically at times.

“Do you- wanna get me ready or- to watch me do it?”

Steve’s ears are _boiling_. He feels like both options will drive him over the edge way too quickly.

“Uuh… Can I do it?”

It’s completely thrilling to follow Billy’s indications. To have someone who knows what they like and don’t mind telling Steve how to do it. Steve _loves_ to be rewarded with sharp intakes of breath, and bitten-off whimpers when he does it right.

At some point Billy’s body jerks, his eyes widening. 

“Did you feel that?”

 _Uuuh_ , no, Steve didn’t. But he tries doing the previous gesture again anyway.

Billy’s back arches and he bites his lip, _hard_.

“Right there, d’you feel it?”

Steve _thinks_ he’s got it this time. It’s like a small lump he rubbed against. So he rubs against it one more time, checking if this _is_ what Billy’s so riled up about. It proves to be the right spot. 

Billy is _writhing_.

And he seems to become less and less in control. 

And it drives Steve batshit crazy.

Billy hums and grips his shoulder when he leans in to bite at his neck.

“Hmm, you doin’good, Harrin- _Steve_ ”

Steve lifts his head to look at him, amused that he suddenly goes so serious, and finds an honest look he wasn’t expecting.

Billy says “ _Steve_ ” again, as to confirm this is what he just said, before screwing his eyes shut as Steve rubs hard against this responsive spot once more.

Billy smiles so wolfishly when he looks into his eyes again that Steve almost moans without him even _doing_ anything. Billy slithers a hand into Steve’s hair again and pulls.

“Someone’s been left hanging for too long, donchathink?”

Steve makes a pathetic ‘uhuh’ and bites his bottom lip when Billy grabs a condom and slides it all the way down his shaft with a smooth gesture that can only come from very frequent iterations. He also pours lube on his hand to spread it on Steve’s rubbered cock.

Billy is a fucking tease.

Billy’s a fucking tease and he’s enjoying it.

Always with his _fucking_ grin and his hooded blue eyes. He drags his legs up _so slow_ and he strokes Steve’s legs on the way and at the same time he’s basically fucking Steve’s eyes with his own. 

Billy locks his legs around Steve’s middle and it’s also him who lines him up. Steve is trying to be steady on his elbows, gripping at Billy’s shoulders for support.

“Go _on_ , baby…”

Steve pushes in, and he can’t believe Billy _still_ has that shit-eating grin on his face.

Steve’s insides are burning right now. He jerks his hips once – Billy’s smile and eyes widen – twice – Billy bites his lip – and tries to find a rhythm – Billy pulls at his hair again. He ruts for a while, still slowly, ears filled with every little noise Billy makes, snuggling his nose in the crook of his neck with a clear intention of getting baked with the smell.

They’ve taken the same rhythm now, and Billy meets his thrusts every time. Every time he drives Steve even more on edge with his _voice_.

“Wait...”

Steve emerges from Billy’s collarbone with what he knows is a stoned-as-fuck face. Billy grabs the pillow he’s lying on to prop his hips up a little. At the first thrust Steve can see the fucking difference. Because Billy’s eyes are wide open, and his mouth is gaping open in a silent moan that Steve swears he hears. And just like that, Steve’s smile is infected by Billy’s laugh.

“ _That’s_ what I’m talking about!”

Billy’s chuckles are gradually replaced by moans, whimpers and everything in between as his head lolls backwards exposing the flesh of his neck once again. Steve’s glad to know it’s from him rocking his hips harsher.

“ _Ste-eve_ ”

No one’s ever been as smug as Steve feels right now.

“Oh, so _now_ it’s Steve, huh?”

It’s really the first time Steve has sex with someone who _laughs in pleasure_. And it’s fucking awesome to be honest. 

“Aw, like when I say your name, pretty boy?”

Billy looks him in the eyes at that.

“You gonna love when I moan it like two-dollar whore!”

Steve hopes, _begs to God_ that Billy puts his money where his mouth is, because he _absolutely_ wants to hear that.

“Oh yeah? When is that?”

Another delighted chuckle.

“When you _make_ me.”

Steve’s catching Billy’s constant tittering. It’s so ridiculous. It’s messing his rhythm. But it’s funny.

Billy takes hold of Steve’s hair to lick his tongue. This is what Steve needed to get on with more regular thrusts. Billy moans into his mouth. Then Steve sets a quicker pace and _that_ is how he gets a glimpse of what Billy’s like when he lets himself loose. Billy starts moaning at every shove and – well Steve moans a little too. Not sure he’ll admit it later but he won’t have to anyway, because Billy is _loud_.

He’s _fucking loud_. Now his eyes are screwing shut. And Steve’s feeling his belly getting wet. But Billy still seems _not done_ for some reason. And it’s funny, because he’s _trying_. He’s _trying_ to say Steve’s name but it only comes out as “St-” followed by a moan. It’s honestly even hotter than what he promised.

Steve is in a complete trance. He’s biting, and sucking, and licking at Billy’s exposed neck and it’s the only thing he wants to do ever. 

As he whimpers and counts on the fact that Billy’s moans are louder, everything seems to burn for a second. Billy’s every muscle contracts, _including_ the _inside_ of him, and it’s the last blow Steve’s ever-growing want needed. Steve’s release lasts as long as Billy clenches around him. 

Then Billy relaxes his whole body in an obscene long, drawn out moan. Eyes closed, cheeks crimson.

After sliding out Steve crumbles on Billy’s heaving chest, mind blown but confused. This state goes on and on until they both seem to catch their breath enough. And the first thing Billy does is what Steve was expecting after all of this: a chuckle.

“That was something!”

Steve nods against Billy’s skin, not sure if he’ll dare asking about what’s confusing him.

“Yeah… W-what was that? I mean… you- came and _then_ you… moaned?”

“Yeah, that’s called orgasming, _Steve_.”

The way he says ‘Steve’ this time really sounds like he was meaning to say ‘dumbass’. He says that like it’s something evident, like it’s not a fucking bomb he dropped on him. Like it’s something Steve already knew.

“I- thought guys couldn’t. Like, have an orgasm, like, a proper orgasm, like girls have.”

“What? Who said that?”

Steve feels utterly betrayed. By everyone he ever had sex with. Not because they told him he couldn’t, but because they didn’t know he could. It’s a little hypocritical as he didn’t know either but still. He can’t help but wanting to yell ‘Treachery!!’ like Dustin does when he’s trapped in DnD.

“I thought- I mean, I thought that it was what everyone knew, I thought, you know, guys cum and girls orgasm.”

Billy pushes his shoulder to roll him to his side. That way Steve can see his delighted leer.

“I gotta tell ya something, pretty boy…”

Steve raises his eyebrows and, well, listens, because, really, this is a crucial moment, what is he expected to do? Billy’s mouth comes next to his ear while his hand goes down to his hip.

“Girls can cum.”

Steve can see his smile from the way his cheeks rise up. He’s teasing again.

“And guys can orgasm. And… I mean… there’s a lot- more to boys and girls than what there is in Hawkins.”

Steve has no idea of what that means. It turns him on but he doesn’t know what that means.

“Oh…”

“So I guess that means… You never _experienced_ it, am I right?”

“Uh… No, I mean… unless I had one without noticing it was, but…”

“Oh, trust me, you would’ve _noticed_ …”

“But… I’m not sure I’m ready to… uh-”

“Oh, don’t worry, you don’t need a nice hard cock up your ass to have an orgasm, _Steve_.”

“…No?”

Billy’s kneading at Steve’s hip with his thumb, eyes fixed on his lips.

“You ever been eaten out?”

Steve’s cheeks heat up at that.

“You mean- blown?”

“No…”

“God, uh- no I haven’t.”

“D’you want me to eat you out, Steve?”

Steve’s breath becomes ragged again.

“How does it feel?”

Billy smirks.

“With me? _Absolutely_ amazing.”

That makes Steve chuckle and relax a little bit. _Of course_ , he would say that. He shakily sighs in anticipation.

“O-okay, alright… _Alright!_ ”

Billy gently pushes Steve’s hipbone to lie him on his back then bites at his shoulder, his hand gliding down to his thigh. And he goes _down down down_ and Steve’s getting hard again even if it’s been less than ten minutes since he came. 

_Billy’s tongue._

On his collarbone.

On his nipple.

Right beneath his ribs.

Right above his navel.

And Billy’s eyes. Steve is pinned to the mattress, transfixed by the hottest fucking show he’s ever witnessed.

Now he’s nipping the inside of Steve’s thigh, before licking his shaft in one _long_ stripe. Then he begins to circle Steve’s hole, pushing in… His fingers are sinking in the flesh of Steve’s butt.

It’s a little weird. The… intrusion. And Steve doesn’t know where to put his hands. They’re just hovering awkwardly over his torso while he glances down.

Billy’s head emerges from between his legs.

“How does it feel?”

“Uuh… Wet?”

Giggling. That’s the only thing Billy does, right?

“Okay, I think it _means_ I didn’t reach it yet.”

He licks his lips.

“You okay if I try with a finger?”

Steve shifts his hips in a more comfortable position, his legs still resting on Billy’s shoulders and back. He really wants to know what made Billy shout like that.

“Yeah, yeah alright, go ahead.”

Billy’s hand snatches the lube next to the pillow, then… it still feels weird.

“Can I push further?”

“Yeah…”

His back jolts and he sharply breathe in when Billy crooks his finger. _This_ was surprising.

“Was- Was that-”

“Oh-ho, yeah, I think I got it.”

He crooks his finger again, this time rubbing harder, and Steve screws his eyes shut. It’s such a foreign sensation but he can feel _something_ is extremely right.

Billy’s other hand is squeezing the underside of his thigh and the more his finger strokes inside of him, the hotter Steve gets. His breath quivers and his toes curl, and he wants- more.

The small frustrated noises he makes catch Billy’s attention and his mouth stops biting Steve’s other thigh.

“What is it?”

Steve has a really hard time exposing what he wants. He stutters, becomes crimson and can’t look him in the eyes, but Billy’s patient. Steve wants more pressure. So Billy suggests one more finger, biting his tongue.

It was a _good_ idea.

Steve doesn’t register the moans until he realizes they’re coming from him. He can feel _something_ heating _inside_.

Billy looks extremely playful.

“Hey, Steve? Know what’s even better than being fucked with two fingers?”

Steve’s ears flush at that because of the realization he’s currently being fucked with two fingers. He doesn’t know how words are expressed. But Billy’s question was rhetorical.

“Being fucked with two fingers while being blown.”

His mischievous eyes meet Steve’s, and he says ‘Shall I?’

Steve’s chest deflates.

“Of _course_ you _shall_.”

 _You idiot_.

And just like that, Steve is touched like he’s never been touched. Two fingers rubbing this _fucking spot_ inside of him, one hand stroking his shaft, thumb digging on the underside, lips and tongue taking care of the head, and Billy’s eyes, boring through his eyes as if trying to directly fuck his brains out. 

His breathing hitches and he feels like he’s shouting. Well he’s at least sure he was never as loud before. His hands come to cover his mouth on their own accord, then lift to cover his eyes as his insides heat up to a boil.

A scorching spark of electricity is radiating from his core to his fingertips and toes, and the heel of his palms are imprinting white dots into his pupils through the eyelids.

It’s only when his lungs function again that he realizes how high he was. His hands grip his hair and he looks down to Billy’s mischievous grin, just above his now softening dick. Now he understands why Billy’s laughing during sex. That was the best thing ever.

Setting his legs down, Billy flanks himself next to Steve back on the mattress, jacking himself off with a smirk, eyes still on him. It’s less than a minute before he comes, under Steve’s amused gaze.

Steve’s so relaxed right now. Doesn’t even care about the light of the pool on his ceiling anymore. The only thing filling his mind is satisfaction.

“I’m sticky.”

Steve turns his head towards Billy.

“There’s another bathroom facing my door if you don’t want to go downstairs.”

Heaving himself, Billy thanks him and swaggers out of Steve’s room, perfect naked ass on display.

After a minute Steve also realizes he’s covered in sweat, lube, spit, and a little bit of Billy’s cum from earlier, so… He knocks before entering the bathroom.

“I’m sticky too.”

Billy is lounging in the bathtub, an arm lazily dangling on the edge while the other holds the showerhead over his belly. He folds his legs up to leave him some space. Steve crouches down in the other side of the tub and is about to say thanks, but receives water in his face.

 _Really?_ Steve cocks his eyebrows up at Billy’s sniggering face, fighting the urge to chuckle. Billy hands him the shower and gives him a look Steve does find familiar.

Steve sprays his hair and face, and proceeds to wash his limbs too. 

_Oh yeah_. Steve knows when Billy looked at him like that before. Every fucking time they showered after basketball. He smiles to himself.

This was _awesome_. It’s the best sex Steve had since… like, ever. Does Billy always have sex of _this_ fucking _quality_? Steve feels like he wouldn’t be so angry all the time if he did. But he doesn’t know Billy that much. Still he _wonders_ if it was as awesome for Billy as it was for him.

“Was it, like- alright for you?”

Billy’s eyebrows shoot up.

“ _Alright?_ Was it _alright?_ Were you even _there_ , Steve? You basically fucked me stupid!”

…Yeah, that makes Steve want to laugh again. It’s been a long time he hasn’t been as pleased with himself.

“What about you? First time with a guy, how’d you like it?”

A beam blooms on Steve’s face. He settles with ‘Amazing’ instead of ‘Best sex he ever had’ because, let’s be real, that would make him feel way too vulnerable.

After discussing Van Halen, past hook-ups, and calendar models – Steve makes Billy laugh by telling him he would be June or August because he doesn’t seem like much of a patriot – they get out of the bathtub and Steve throws himself back on the mattress.

“Will you stay the night?”

Billy’s still standing next to the bed.

“Is this a question or a request?”

_Motherfucker._

“I was… planning on staying ambiguous.”

“Can I?”

“Yeah.”

The mattress sinks next to Steve’s middle. And Steve feels restless all of a sudden. Hell, he doesn’t even know if he’s allowed to let his thigh touch Billy’s while they’re lying side by side. So he just stays stock-still and awkward while Billy stretches and lays his head on his arms, oblivious to his embarrassment.

Then Billy abruptly shifts to flush himself against Steve’s side and slides his hand on Steve’s belly. He brings his lips to the shell of Steve’s ear to drag a ‘G’night, pretty boy’ before going back to his initial position with a snigger.

So at some point Steve dares to turn on his side towards Billy, who has his eyes closed by now, and dares to put an arm around him. And slowly, as he gets more comfortable, he lays his head on Billy’s shoulder and torso, straddles Billy’s leg with his own and starts to doze off. Billy’s hand settles on his back, right between his shoulder blades and his fingers lazily stroke his spine.

Whispers make Steve emerge the morning after. He opens his eyes in slits. Billy has his pants on.

“What?”

“I’m going home.”

“Oh, yeah I’m… gonna close the door behind you.”

Mind still in mush, Steve snatches sweatpants from his closet and follows Billy down the stairs.

Glaring at Billy’s flip flops, he gradually gets more awake. 

As Billy shrugs his jacket on, Steve wonders if he’ll dare kiss him goodbye. Because, come on, he wants to end on a promising note. He really _really_ wants to have sex like _that_ again. Billy looks at him with his signature smirk while freeing his hair from his collar.

_Go for it._

Steve grasps Billy’s jacket and pulls it to him. There’s no resistance from the other boy whatsoever, just a widening of his smile. Steve clashes his mouth against Billy’s, as passionately as he can. And he knows how passionate he _can_ be, he wasn’t King Steve for nothing.

Billy’s eyes are still closed for a second after he lets go of him. Steve crosses his arms and lets his eyes wander at Billy’s chest and lips.

“Guess I’ll see you around?”

Billy was clearly not expecting that. He seems a little dazed at first, but quickly turns back to his usual overconfident self.

“Alright, pretty boy… See ya!”

When the door closes again, Steve smiles to himself.

Pretty awesome night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Thanks for the kudos, guys, I'm sooo pleased you liked it!  
> I'm working on a chapter 2 (maybe, I don't want to promise anything though) so maybe I'll see you around !


	2. had a fun friday?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Switching to Billy's POV for this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo here's a second chapter for you as I've thought so much about my humble little one shot I had to make a whole 4 chapter story in my head, with maybe an interlude in the middle. As you can see I don't update really often but it's because I work suuuuper slowly. Thanks so much for the kudos and comments on the first chapter, I'm so glad you appreciated!
> 
> Also I'm writing about Billy in this chapter, but I'm not trying to erase the fact that he's been a pure asshole. I'm trying to write him as actively trying his best to be a better person.
> 
> There's smut in this chapter, hope you'll like it.
> 
> And lastly I'm trying to develop this siblings' relationship cause I feel like these are the most important relationships in life.
> 
> Anyway thanks for reading and thanks for coming back if you are,  
> Lots of love

Steve is _wrong_. 

Billy doesn’t like stupid people. Stupid people are boring. Stupid people are predictable. Stupid people are all at Billy’s feet the moment he steps them anywhere. Like Tommy and Carol and basically all the dudebros of the basketball team of stupid Hawkins High. Billy doesn’t like stupid people.

No, what makes Billy go crazy is _dumbass_ people.

And there’s a big difference between _stupid_ and _dumbass_ people.

Really, what makes Billy go weak in the knees and drool on his shirt are clever people who have a particular type of brain which can shut down dumb and actively work to cause prejudice to their owner at any given moment. 

Dumbasses are thrilling to be around. You never know what they’re gonna come up with. 

In Cali this girl he had sessions with would put her slushie on one end of her skateboard, then kick at the other end to catch it. The only time she prevented it from going right to her face, she caught it with her hand and gripped it so hard the thing exploded on her. This was the thing that made Billy want to tear her panties off.

There was also this hippy dude he met at a party on the beach completely stoned who told him _pants_ were an illusion created by capitalism and sand was going to be the most prized resource one day or some shit. Two hours after that Billy was blowing him like a fucking popsicle.

And _Steve_. Oh _God_ , Steve. When he’s around Billy wants to snatch his own pants off every other fucking minute. He can be talking about music (“Oh, yeah, I know Van Halen, I know- Jump, is that it? Great song, very- very rocky!”) or about movies (“You never saw it? It’s a good movie, it’s got green goo in it! And the guy from ‘Stripes’!”) or he can be rolling his eyes at Billy before walking right into a shelf full of tapes, scattering them all to the ground. 

And at the same time there’s this _thing_ behind those doe eyes, the fact that he’s basically already a mom, and of course the fact that he was _nothing_ like Billy expected him to be. 

When Billy arrived in Hawkins everyone was wrapped around his little finger at the end of his _first_ day of school. It was quite a record, even for him. 

In _one day_ , the name ‘Harrington’ was mentioned around twenty-five times. 

And the information he was given on the old King of Hawkins High made him want to play around. Preppy pretty-faced douchebags buying every small town moron around were a dish Billy was keen on shredding to bits and devouring raw. 

But as soon as he saw this faraway look on his face Billy knew the fight would take place on a whole other level. He was expecting a Tommy squared plus money on the side. Never an eighteen-year-old war veteran already tired of the act he had been playing all his life. He never expected someone so similar to him. 

Steve turned out to be the most interesting thing in stinky-dinky Hawkins, Indiana. All clean, snobbishly rich prick in looks and reputation and whatever it was underneath that made Billy squirm with want. 

Billy wanted to _know_ what was underneath these sweet eyes. He wanted to know what was hidden behind those preppy clothes.

Or maybe the other way around.

So he tried and pushed as far as he could to unravel that fire inside. And screwed everything up in twenty minutes of blind, desperate rage spilling out of him without restraint. Steve didn’t even file a complaint against him. Despite the fact that he’s best friends with the sheriff.

Why the _fuck_ didn’t he?

Anyway Billy took a step backwards after that. Tried to find anything that wasn’t another human being to evacuate on. It was hell of a challenge with Tommy around.

And after he’d apologized to Lucas Sinclair and his parents in the beginning of spring, he noticed Steve wouldn’t ignore him as much. 

So when sunny days started to come again, and for the second time in the few months he’d spent in Indiana, Billy allowed himself to be drawn to that – _cryptic_ – dumbass. Started to tease him again at practice. Went to taunt him about his sailor uniform in the summer, before the mall burned down one night – fortunately without any serious casualties. Said sorry one of the late summer evenings Steve drove Max home from Dragons, Dweebs and Dwarves. Went to flirt with him at his new job when school started again. Has done it ‘til now.

This is his favorite moment of the day. Steve’s eyes are on him the second he enters the video store. Every fucking time. Billy has reveled in those looks for more than two months now and he noticed it was around the same time he started not to feel so angry all the time. Because Billy is a fucking attention whore and he knows it. 

To be fair, people already _have_ their attention on him. Hell, he could crumble under the weight if he wasn’t so familiar with it. But this is different. Steve doesn’t look at his old popularity rival. He doesn’t look at the New King. He doesn’t look at the hot Californian guy. He looks at Billy. And yeah, he’s annoyed. But he looks at Billy. 

Anyway all those late-afternoon hours spent teasing and batting his eyelashes at Steve had an unexpected collateral effect. Billy made a friend. Well, not a _friend_ like Billy would define it, although she is the one nearing his definition the most in all of Hawkins right now, but let’s say… a pal- or a _mate_ , or- an ally. Yes, an ally. Buckley has good taste in both movies and music, and she’s- well Billy realized they had a lot in common not so long ago.

Having Buckley as an ally is like vacations. Family Video serves as a weird kind of shelter where Billy can leave a part of his act behind. It’s fucking _soothing_. So it’s become Billy’s favorite place in Indiana. The fact that he pisses Keith off by his presence alone is just added bonus.

Parking in front of it _now_ , though, on the first Wednesday _post_ -fucking-with-Steve, Billy’s on fucking pins and needles. 

Because on one hand, he’s Steve’s first _guy_ , so there’s a good 75% chance that he freaks out. But on the other hand he hasn’t freaked out so far. Or hasn’t freaked out in front of him. Also Billy _wants_ Steve. _So_ fucking bad. But Billy’s had his share of guys freaking out. And he’s fucking _tired_ of it. 

Guys are exhaustingly unpredictable on this matter. Billy has experienced the whole range of possibilities, from the panicked look which can be soothed with words, to attempts at killing him heavily seasoned with ‘fag’s, ‘fairy’s and ‘twink’s. He’s also been surprised, too many times, by how the different reactions weren’t associated with the guys he expected. Billy learned early in life to evaluate the risk before taking that leap. And knows there’s always a chance he miscalculates.

But Steve’s friends with _Buckley_. And from what Billy gathered, he’s very _aware_ of who she bangs at parties. And very okay with it. Only hope there is to have is he applies this not only to her. Billy expects a non-violent freak-out if indeed there is one.

So that’s just the _guy_ part. Then there’s also the very reasonable possibility that Steve doesn’t want to have anything to do with _Billy_ specifically. Which, let’s be real, is the most plausible possibility. It happens when you’re an overall bad person. People may find you exciting to hang out with for a little while but they all know you’ll end up in prison or dead in a ditch sooner or later. So what’s the point of going deeper than the surface? That’s right. 

And Steve’s the one in Hawkins who’s seen Billy at his worst. Steve has seen him unhinged. Knows how _ugly_ Billy can really be. Really is.

_But_. 

_Somehow_ , there’s still a chance Steve wants to see him around. Despite all the very reasonable arguments against it Billy thinks there can be a tiny _tiny_ chance Steve wants to see him again. Because saying ‘See you around’ is just polite. But kissing a guy with your morning breath before saying ‘See you around’ after having asked him to spend the night is… Well Billy evaluates it as a 30-35% chance Steve actually wants to see him around. Because although each thing taken on its own isn’t significant enough, the accumulation is an altogether good sign.

And this has to be admitted: Steve’s also the one in Hawkins who’s seen Billy at his- well, _best_ isn’t the word Billy would employ. But it was definitely his most- relaxed, anger-deprived state, and that’s one of the least ugly things Billy can offer.

That’s why Billy’s sitting on the edge of his seat right now, engine still running. With guys he usually doesn’t bother for less than a good 70%. But he’s been hung up on this particular guy for more than a year. And this guy has a lesbian friend. So if he doesn’t want Billy it won’t be violent. Well not that kind of violent. Billy doesn’t risk to be beaten or knifed. Not for that. Hopefully. But it means that if Steve rejects him it won’t be because Steve is trash. It’ll be because _Billy_ is trash. 

Hand still on the handbrake, Billy looks into the rearview mirror, his best casual smile plastered on. 

Fake it ‘til you make it.

His heart is pounding when he pushes the door of the video store but he puts on the full charm anyway. 

Buckley’s alone at the counter and her smile widens wickedly when she sets eyes on him.

“Hey, Hargrove, had a fun Friday?”

She speaks with an oh-so-innocent voice in complete opposition with her knowingly raised eyebrows. Billy smirks. Confidence is key. Actually _apparent_ confidence is key. Billy gratefully learnt that in middle school.

“Yeah, thanks for the invite… D’you happen to know where your coworker is? The hot one.”

“Oh, sorry, Keith doesn’t work on Wednesdays, but I’ll tell him you dropped by if you want!”

She thinks she’s funny. But it’s part of her charm. Dorky chicks. Billy just raises his eyebrows.

“Too bad, tell him I know he can’t get enough of me.”

Robin chuckles before seizing the microphone.

“Hey, Dingus, you’re wanted at HQ right now!”

Billy makes a _big_ effort not to look at Steve right away. He keeps his eyes on the candy stand until he hears the footsteps coming right beside the counter. 

It’s torture. 

If he could he would look at Steve’s entrance all wide eyed and biting his lips. Instead he keeps his head facing the stand, turning only his eyes towards Steve’s. The secret is very slightly looking down. But not too much because it can be interpreted as a confrontation. Billy has learned to master the subtleties of that look for more than two years from the moment he started dating. First you slightly look down on them, then as they come nearer you tilt your head slowly to switch and look up to them. They don’t notice you do it if you do it right. And they can’t get their eyes off you. Steve can’t get his eyes off him. Billy’s fucking _ecstatic_.

“Oh, hey Billy!”

He’s _so cute_. Steve’s so hot and pretty and _cute_. He’s got those big eyes and this somewhat surprised look about him.

“Hey, _Steve_.”

Billy smiles, crookedly. Doesn’t want to look too eager. But not too mocking either. It’s always like that. Everything has to be adjusted, dosed, calibrated to a hair’s width. Billy’s life’s been this way since he entered the pre-teen era. Everything _must_ be exactly right. Or else. 

The only places Billy can stop calculating everything and just _feel_ the moment are on his board – just, the feeling of gliding, the fact that you know the waves could kill you, but they let you ride anyway, like they’re letting you do your thing but you know you’re not in control, you’re just- _gliding_ – and in other people’s beds. Not in his bed. Not _ever_ in his bed. Sex is supposed to be a way to let go. And in Hawkins it’s the only way to let go, as people can be stupid enough to build towns _away_ from the ocean. 

To be real, Billy doesn’t actually manage to let go every single time he fucks with someone, but with _Steve_ , it was like surfing again. It was like the one time Billy managed to hold a hang ten ‘til the wave broke close. With Steve it was like you could abandon yourself. Like you could be in the _moment_ and not think of anything else. It’s been a long time since Billy hasn’t been so comfortable with someone. And even then it had been after several times with the same person. The fact that it was so comfortable, to Billy, is directly linked to the incredible amount of dumbassery and dorkiness Steve can get away with. With his pretty face, and his fluffy hair and Bambi eyes and– _ugh_.

Steve’s cheeks are flushed a barely noticeable amount as he drops his load of tapes on the counter. 80% sure it’s a good sign. He throws a glance at Buckley before addressing Billy again.

“H- How are you?” 

He’s making his doe eyes at the moment, but Billy’s pretty sure he’s not doing it on purpose.

Billy chuckles, bites his cheeks, tries to be soft. But tries to be casual too. Steve said ‘See you around’. And he kissed him. With his morning breath. You don’t do that if you don’t mean it a _little_ , do you?

“Oh, me I’m _fine_. Actually got an hour to kill. Dropped Max and Lucas at the arcade.”

The hint. Do you take the hint, pretty boy? Do you take the _hint_? I’ve got a _whole_ hour.

Steve raises his eyebrows. Billy has to do a conscious effort to appear confident. But Steve doesn’t seem to be annoyed. And he doesn’t look away. He bites his cheek.

“Robin, can you cover for me?”

“I can.”

This time he looks at her.

“You sure?”

“Dingus, we’re the only three people here. You can go in the break room, I think I can manage.”

Steve inhales deeply.

“Right.”

His eyes land on Billy again, and – Billy can’t believe it – he grabs his sleeve with one hand to pull him towards the back of the store. Billy’s mind is _swirling_ with excitement.

When they’re inside what seems to be a storage room, Steve pulls him close and seizes his shirt with his other hand. He’s smiling like he’s _glad_ to have Billy here. 

“Happy to see me, pretty boy?”

If Billy wasn’t biting his tongue he would be saying a lot more. Steve only seems taken aback.

“Uh- well- _yeah_. I mean if it wasn’t obvious. Yeah- I am.”

Then he _kisses_ Billy. Oh boy. Steve is a _better kisser_ than Billy. And no false humility here, _that_ is saying something. He knows how to start slow and how to build up the pace so Billy’s left panting when they’re interrupted by the scratched version of Buckley’s voice.

“Hey I can see you, _moron_ , why d’you think I told you to go in the _break room_?”

Steve clumsily stutters a ‘sorry’ up to one the corners of the room then pulls at Billy’s jacket again while Billy’s hazy eyes search for the security camera. When they’re in what is obviously more of a break room than the tape-littered one they were in before, Steve serves him a sheepish grin, fiddles with Billy’s jacket.

“Sorry about that…”

“Oh I’m not offended, _Steve_.”

Billy won’t pretend he doesn’t like the way Steve seemingly can’t keep his hands off him for more than five seconds now. That way they’re on an equal footing. Because Billy’s hands were irresistibly drawn to his soft, fluffy hair the moment they were allowed to. 

Steve’s fingers surge and surge further on Billy’s chest, they swirl under his shirt, to his sides and to his back and Billy’s already boiling with heat. He squeezes his fists close around Steve’s hair then clashes their mouths together, screwing his eyes shut. He doesn’t do that often. Closing his eyes right away. 

Steve chuckles into the kiss before taking a few steps backwards, keeping their lips sealed while he’s dragging Billy along. The momentum makes his chest and knees crash into Steve’s when their movement is stopped by a chest of drawers. Their lips part but Steve keeps him on his feet. As soon as his balance is restored Billy leans again into Steve’s face but the other stops his chin with his finger. He seems to smile with… Wonder, maybe.

“You- you got the _hots_ for me!”

Billy’s chest constricts. 

Then loosens.

Come on, not everyone is here to make him feel cornered.

After this fleeting moment he smirks and looks intently at Steve’s plump lips.

“You got _no_ idea…”

Steve’s smile widens and his face surges forward while his arms keep Billy’s waist and shoulders close.

Steve’s lips are guiding every move of Billy’s. And they’re keeping the moves intoxicatingly slow. It’s been ten minutes of making out and Steve’s tongue has so far only _brushed_ against Billy’s bottom lip. His hands have of course explored a lot, but only above Billy’s navel. But Steve is comfortable when he leads. And Billy is _very okay_ with that. 

Still he tries to give hints because it’s getting frustrating.

Getting closer is one way of doing that, especially if you have a plan. Sighing, Billy tilts his head on one side and slithers his arm further behind Steve’s back to glue his chest against him. Then it only takes the natural need of the body to keep its balance for Billy’s hips to be in close contact with Steve’s- already swollen crotch. Billy grins against Steve’s mouth.

_Finally_ some tongue. Steve nibbles at Billy’s bottom lip before licking at his gratified moan. _Then_ Steve’s hand grips Billy’s butt and pulls Billy _closer_. Which, in this configuration, is impossible, meaning that he’s pressing his hips _tighter_ against him. Billy draws another moan.

Steve is so _hard_ right now. He’s hard because of what they’re doing. He’s hard because of Billy. Billy makes him hard, Billy’s making pretty-boy _Steve Harrington_ hard. Prettiest-guy-in-Indiana _Steve Harrington_ is hard for _Billy_.

Billy still can’t wrap his mind around this.

He lets his hand travel down from Steve’s shoulder but is faced with a dilemma on the way. Indeed, to touch further down Steve’s abdomen with his _hand_ he has to get his _hips_ away from him. Grinding one more time gets Steve’s breath to hitch a little. Now he can palm that cock without feeling guilty.

Steve’s hand comes up from Billy’s butt to cup his chin and break the kiss for a second. Maybe it’s to make Billy open his eyes, because as soon as he does, Steve dives into him again. And Steve’s eyes are hazed and his cheeks are flushed red and Billy’s fucking dick is hard too now.

Billy unhurriedly rubs a hand up and down his crotch while Steve tilts his head on the side to lick further into his mouth. Steve also makes it very clear he doesn’t want Billy’s jacket in his way anymore so it’s discarded to the ground. Billy didn’t like it anyway. Billy thrives in thin fabrics and few to no layering. No huge loss here.

Steve proceeds to slide one hand around Billy’s nape while tugging his shirt out of his pants and slither under it with the other. Billy is honestly one hitched breath away from getting down on his knees. Making pretty Steve come down his throat. _Fuck_ , would _that_ be magnificent. Billy’s gonna make him come so hard he won’t be able to forget this, like, _ever_.

Kissing Steve’s neck, his collarbone, his chest, Billy slowly drops to one knee then both, eyes glued to Steve’s face to assess the situation. Because Steve will most probably not switch to crazy but Billy’s had a few- _bad_ experiences with kneeling in front of guys who he _thought_ were into it all. Because _some guys_ … And being on your knees with no one around and not being in the mood for fighting _at all_ makes you extremely vulnerable in that kind of- 

Billy sighs. 

Whatever.

Steve’s hands are ghosting over Billy’s shoulders, his eyebrows raised and his lips parted in awe. Billy opens the pants’ zipper, running his left hand behind Steve’s thigh. Steve _very obviously_ starts to breathe harder when Billy mouths at him through his briefs. His trembling fingers tentatively settle in Billy’s hair, stroking the side of his head. This is Billy’s chance. He’s gonna leave a lasting impression. He’s gonna make sure to be remembered.

Not to brag or anything, but Billy’s pretty good at this. He can’t really deepthroat without choking but he makes up for it by using his hands properly, and a _lot_. People are usually well pleased. Plus Steve’s a little above average in length and he’s fucking _thick_ , and Billy’s not going to risk screwing everything up by puking. 

_Keep making eye contact_.

Steve has _every bit_ of his attention on Billy. He nibbles at his lip and his cheeks are rosy.

“Can you… like, do the thing you did last time? You know, with ---”

The last part of the sentence is too mumbled for Billy to hear.

“What?”

“With- the fingers.”

_Fuck_.

Billy can’t believe this is happening to him. Boy-next-door _Steve Harrington_ is asking for Billy’s finger up his ass. Steve Harrington is so riled up about Billy sucking his dick he _actually asks_ for this. And Billy thought he was straighter than a pole not even two weeks ago.

“I’d like that. But I don’t have lube with me… And I doubt you’ll be comfortable without.”

Fuck, _fuck, FUCK_. Billy doesn’t even have lube in his _car_. Billy doesn’t have lube in his car for the first time in a month and this is the moment _Steve_ fucking _Harrington_ actually _asks_ for Billy’s fingers inside him. This couldn’t get any more frustrating.

“O- Okay.”

Please don’t be disappointed.

“I’ll make it worth your while, though”

Billy smirks and Steve’s cheeks redden a darker shade.

Back to business. Billy leaves nothing without proper attention for too long. Licking a long stripe on the underside of Steve’s shaft, the pad of his thumb following his tongue, he grips at Steve’s butt and Steve lets out a gorgeous little whimper. Then Billy swallows him as far as he can, holding the remaining length with his hand and looking up again. Steve’s doe eyes are wide and he’s panting. 

After that Billy sets up a rhythm that matches Steve’s heavy breaths. And the fact that he can’t put his finger _inside_ Steve’s hole doesn’t mean he can’t _tease_.

Steve lets out soft moans every now and then. His hands tighten around Billy’s hair from time to time then unclench and stroke Billy’s scalp as to apologize for losing control. His eyes are shutting for longer and longer periods of time.

“Billy-”

Billy can’t really smile right now, but the spirit’s here. He just hums to say ‘yeah, what’s up’. Also to make Steve feel the vibration.

“I’m gonna- I’m just-”

Billy presses his finger just behind Steve’s balls while trying to go faster. It pays off. Steve lets out an extremely cute choked moan and clenches his abdomen before shooting his load down Billy’s throat. 

Massaging and licking him through his orgasm Billy keeps glancing up so Steve will look at him when he gets back from his high. When their eyes meet he licks a last stripe on the head before smirking. He gets back on his feet, then neatly tucks Steve’s softening dick back into his underwear, keeping the cocky grin on and bracing himself for what’s to come. Will it be an awkward ‘Okay I must go back’ or a passive-aggressive ‘I’m not a fucking queer, okay?’ or a condescending ‘didn’t know you had it in you, tiger’? 

Steve cups his jaw and slides his tongue between Billy’s lips. 

That’s- not what Billy expected.

Steve stops in his track when he doesn’t reciprocate. Billy raises his eyebrows.

“You aware I’ve still got some of your jizz left in my mouth, right?”

Steve shrugs one shoulder and keeps looking at Billy’s lips.

“Well- uh- yeah, I guess.”

Okay. This kind of reaction is not… unheard of, to Billy… But it’s unusual. Especially for a guy who hadn’t ever- even _kissed_ a guy just last week. To Billy’s knowledge. To Billy’s- guess, anyway.

And that’s not all. Because Steve leans _again_ , his eyes asking if he can _continue_ kissing Billy. What can Billy do except gladly oblige? Hasn’t it been already stated that Steve is an _exceptionally good_ kisser? That guy _knows_ his stuff. 

“How much time do you still have?”

“Hmm… Guess I still got a solid 30 minutes, why?”

“Can I… Uh, you know, can I- do you? Like- your turn? With my hand?”

_Hell yeah_.

Billy smiles and forgets to look smug.

“Sure!”

Steve almost immediately gets a hand down the front of Billy’s pants to rub, biting his lip, eyes questioning. Billy feels his breaths becoming harder to achieve.

“You know, for a handjob it’s better if you actually put your hand _in_ my pants, pretty boy.”

Steve chuckles.

“Oh-okay, I know you want it _bad_ but you gotta be a little patient, hot stuff!”

And just like that Billy’s ears are _boiling_.

Steve leans in to kiss Billy’s neck, just as his finger makes its way under Billy’s waistband. Soon kisses turn into bites and Steve has his hand into Billy’s _panties, God_. 

Billy winces.

“Steve, it’s- dry-”

“Oh, yeah- yeah sorry, just-”

For one second Steve looks unsure about what to do, but _after that_. Boy. There’s a huge grin blooming on his face. His eyes fixed on Billy as he takes his hand up to his mouth, he raises his eyebrows before licking a long – long – stripe across his hand. And he goes on, and on, and _on_ licking his hand while Billy’s completely rooted on the spot, mouth agape. 

And now his _slick_ hand is back on Billy’s cock. And it’s _slick_. 

“Better now, big guy?”

Billy enthusiastically nods. 

_Fuck_.

Steve always has these doe eyes and it fucks him up. He’s just- beautiful. So pretty. Fucking gorgeous. And he’s tugging at Billy’s hair to tilt his head backwards. And the moment when Steve bites into his neck and Billy lets out a whimper he knows he’s completely fooling himself. It’s Billy who won’t be able to forget this. It’s Billy who won’t forget Steve, not the other way around. Then as to crown that thought Steve untightens his grip on his hair and licks into his mouth. While fastening the rhythm of what’s going on _down there_.

Billy buries his face into Steve’s neck.

The only thing he _can_ do is making the most of what’s given to him. He prints the smell into his thoughts and tries to abandon himself into this. It was easier last Friday. When he hadn’t already thought this much about the whole thing. The whole _Steve_ thing.

Steve kisses him just behind the ear. Billy screws his eyes shut. It’s a little embarrassing but that’s his favorite spot. No one knows this. Come on, Billy has a reputation to uphold, he _cannot_ have it known that he goes all gooey just from people taking care of _this_ part. Steve is holding his head with his free hand and his thumb is pressing into the same spot on the other side.

Billy just hopes his moans don’t sound too desperate.

“You really know how to do this right, huh?”

At that Steve starts twisting his fist a little when he pumps up. He also looks at Billy and answers “Do I?” with a big dopey smile on his face.

Biting his lips Billy lets his head fall again so his eyes are hidden between Steve’s shoulder and neck. 

“Just- a little faster now…”

“Alright…”

It’s obvious in Steve’s voice that he’s still smiling. Billy’s kind of on edge right now. Not- _on edge_ , like- usually; on the edge of-

“ _Steve_ -”

“Hmm.”

Steve sighs in Billy’s ear and it’s really all it takes for him to come. Steve could, like, not have his hand on Billy’s cock right now and it would be the same. Honestly. Billy’s eyes are screwed shut and his hands are fisting Steve’s t-shirt in his back. And what keeps him going is the nips Steve makes below his ear.

Eventually Billy’s mind is brought back to earth. Not too brutally though. 

“Billy?”

“Hmm?”

“You could- come to mine this weekend if you wanted…”

Billy doesn’t- understand Steve. Doesn’t know what’s with him. Steve _knows_ Billy. He knows what kind of _thing_ Billy is deep down. Yet he wants to see Billy again. _Again_.

Smirking, he puts his head away from Steve’s neck to face him.

“Why not?”

Steve’s mouth twitches on one corner.

“Cool, um. Saturday? I mean I finish at 10 p.m. and I’m at my house like, fifteen minutes later, so if you- you know.”

Billy flicks his eyes to his lips, then up again.

“Alright…”

“Okay! Cool. So- I think we should, maybe walk out of there one at a time, I- I don’t know if there’s clients in there now.”

Reality strikes again. Billy’s smile falls a little.

“Yeah. I’ll go first, see ya.”

Billy opens the door towards the storage room but his arm is gripped back before he can get to the second door.

“Just-”

Steve’s _lips_. Are so delicious. And soft. Billy just can’t- 

“See you Saturday?”

Steve’s eyebrows are raised and he’s got an easy smile. Frankly this could make all of Billy’s walls crumble.

“Yeah… See you Saturday.”

Billy heads out to the front of the store, not looking back to the storage door. Okay, looking _just once_ towards the storage door. Heading out, he gives a last glance at the counter. She looks awfully smug. Billy tries to tone down the uncontrolled beam blooming on his face and says a last goodbye while opening the front door.

“See you around, Buckley.”

He just has time to hear her voice as the door closes.

“Yeah, you _better_ , Hargrove!”

The engine roars one last time before he rolls into the arcade parking lot. He searches for the pack of cigarettes in the glove box then flicks his lighter on. He then gets checked out by a couple of girls while getting out of the car, and checks them out in return before smirking. It’s only being polite.

Billy rolls his shoulders in his shirt. It’s getting fucking freezing this time of year. Fuck, it’s never that cold in California, even in the heart of winter. And it’s only early November. Last year Billy felt that he could’ve put every single item of his wardrobe on and it wouldn’t have been enough to warm him up. And it’s starting all over again. Fucking winters in the fucking middle of the fucking country.

“Billy!”

Max arrives from behind Billy, flanked by Lucas and the Byers kid. Now she always has that weird attitude with him where she’s still obviously tough as nails and ready to fight, but also she smiles at him sometimes. 

“I thought you were at the arcade?”

It’s not an accusation. Billy tries not to have an accusatory tone. Hopes she gets it.

“Yeah, we just said hello to Jane, she was in Hopper’s car, just passing by.”

She didn’t take it as a confrontation. It’s getting better.

“Alright.”

“Can you drive Will too? It’s ’cause, uh-”

“-I have to get home early and Dustin’s mom won’t be here before an hour.”

_Great_. To the house of doom. Billy shrugs and blows on his cigarette.

“Yeah, sure.”

It’s not even a question that Lucas gets a drive home too. Now Billy is basically a middle school couple’s chauffeur. But he doesn’t mind so much. The confrontation to his parents was one of the most difficult moments he had to go through but he felt- _something_ afterwards. It was drowned in fear, adrenaline, and- well, jealousy. Towards Lucas. Because Mr Sinclair was so, _so- not_ like Neil. It hurt deep down his guts. But there was this _something_ he felt when it was over. He felt weirdly calm. So much calmer than every other fucking day spent in Hawkins. Driving Lucas around feels like an extension of that weird feeling.

The kids climb inside the Camaro, Byers in the front seat – just _peachy_.

It’s not that he doesn’t- _bear_ , having the kid around, it’s just- he has those wide eyes, bearing holes into your soul, it’s frightful. Billy’s half sure he can read minds. And it doesn’t help that Billy’s fake to the bone.

“Where do I head first?”

Lucas answers rightaway.

“My house, it’s on the way to Will’s from here, anyway.”

The contact is turned on and soon the kids are talking amongst themselves without giving too much of a thought about Billy. So Billy can think about _Steve_. Asking if he wants to come this weekend. Saturday night. At 10:15 p.m. Billy won’t come that early though. It’s probable that there’ll be other parties this weekend to finish the booze and candy left from Halloween. Billy’ll go to one of them to have a pretext then he’ll walk out at the same time as some random girl if anyone’s watching the door and he’ll drive to Steve’s classy-ass house around midnight. Or eleven thirty. Or earlier.

After pulling the last bits of the tar-like fumes into his lungs, he throws the butt through the window before closing it. It’s already fucking cold, Billy’s sick of that wind of _death_ engulfing into his car.

He parks right in front of the perfect, well-kept front lawn of the Sinclair’s household. 

“I’m gonna say hi to everyone, I’ll be just a minute.”

Billy raises one eyebrow to Max in the rearview mirror. He’s pretty sure Lucas’s parents aren’t home yet. He smirks.

“Yeah, right… Tell’em I said hello, then. Bye Lucas.”

“Bye Billy.”

They get out of the car and walk to the front door but Billy can’t really look their way because Will is half blocking the view and he’s looking at _him_. 

Billy looks straight ahead.

He can still feel the kid’s stare through his skull.

“ _What_?”

Billy turns his head towards him. Will’s eyes go wider – Billy didn’t think it was possible – as if he’s been caught doing something wrong. He hesitates, then takes a deep in breath before answering.

“Nothing.”

Okay, there’s no way it’s nothing. And this kid is one of the kids who saw him getting out of Steve’s car’s back seat. And maybe it’s wrong, but Billy still counts on the fact he scares them enough for them to keep their mouths shut. 

He shifts in his seat to face him a little more.

“Come on. Spit it out, midget.”

Will looks at him for what seems like enough time to dissect his brain, then looks down on his knees, where his hands are fidgeting.

“When did you know you liked boys?”

Billy’s breath is knocked out of his lungs. Will’s eyes are back on him now and they’re still wide, but this time with what seems like plea – and hope. Billy focuses on the car parked in front of him before answering.

“I don’t know, I guess… Realized- ‘round twelve- or thirteen, maybe.”

Will doesn’t say anything. Billy dares cautiously glancing towards him again. He seems thoughtful. So Billy continues.

“But I was precocious on that… figured it out a lot earlier than everyone else… You- you got time, you know.”

Will lifts his eyes to him at that, even though Billy’s cringing at his own words.

“No, I- I know already. But- I don’t know if I’m ever- going to have something with someone- ever. I mean I- I never met anyone like me before, I had n- no idea that-”

He stops talking and bumps his head back into the seat, seemingly lost in thought again.

Billy shifts in his seat to face the road again. This must be the most open conversation he ever had. And it’s with a kid he hardly knows. Billy doesn’t know what that says about him. Doesn’t know why he even answers him in the first place. Will jumps back from his reverie.

“Do you like- only boys?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Billy thinks he senses fear in the kid’s face.

“No, I guess… I like, mostly guys, but there’s been a few girls I liked.”

Will looks away. Billy hastily continues.

“-But I knew a lot of guys in Cali who were only- into guys.”

Will’s face is back on him, glowing. He opens his mouth once, but doesn’t say anything as he hears the Sinclair’s front door open.

Billy realizes just _now_ how much he had to say. Max is still talking to Lucas at the door.

“Hey, look, just- don’t tell just _anyone_ , okay? Tell people you really- _really_ trust, who’re- safe to tell, just-”

Max waves at Lucas and starts walking towards them.

“-And there’s a lot of people like us, I guarantee you, a lot more than what you think-”

Will nods, smiling, as Max opens the door. 

Attack’s the best defense.

“So how were the Sinclairs?”

“Uh- they’re great.”

Billy chuckles and glances in the back of the car, as Max’s mouth pinches and her ears redden.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Billy punches a random tape in the radio and Klaus Meine’s voice starts to flow Billy’s brain and car.

- _No one like you_

_I can’t wait for the nights with you_

_I imagine the things we do_

_I just wanna be_ -

Billy bites his lip in… fear? 

After rolling through an endless creepy lane Billy stops the Camaro a cautious distance away from the worn out porch of the most chilling house of Hawkins, where a tiny lady is smoking, seated on the stairs. She crushes her cigarette on the floor before standing up and walks towards the car to meet Will as he gets out of the car, along with Max.

Billy opens his window in case she wants to say hi. Moms usually want to know who drives their kid around. It’s no problem, Billy has it easy with moms.

“Hey, Mum, I just gotta give the camcorder to Max!”

As they both almost run to the house, she raises her hands in confusion.

“Yeah- Okay, but why?”

“She’s- We’ve got a project!”

This is probably all she’s gonna get. Her arms fall on her sides, and she mumbles “-not like I need it, anyway, what’ve I got on this, just family memories, right?”

Then she turns to Billy, an awkward smile on her face.

“Well- hi!”

Billy plasters his most charming features on, and seductively lifts the corner of his mouth, looking right into her eyes. It always works on moms. They’re all flustered because they love the transgression there is flirting with his seventeen-year-old-but-hotter-to-mums-than-their-favorite-erotic-novel’s-hero self. He makes them all go wild, and they don’t _dare_ admit to themselves they love it. He answers, putting his elbow on the window, keeping his voice soft and warm.

“Hi Mrs Byers.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. She chuckles and crosses her arms.

“ _This_ -” she gestures at- what, Billy’s entire _person_? “-doesn’t work with me kiddo, don’t bother.”

Billy’s smirk falters.

“You’re Max’s big brother?”

_Step_ -

“Yeah.”

“Will talked about you a little.”

And now Billy’s every muscle has gone rigid in one fragment of a second. _What_ did the kid say to her? The last thing he needs right now is someone outing him to a fucking _adult_ who has the power and connections to tell _Neil_. Come _on_ , Billy’s only eight months from salvation and freedom. He’s just got eight months before he can leave far away and never come back, and he _doesn’t need_ such a complication when he’s so _close_ to the end of the line.

“He- didn’t tell mean things about you, you know.”

Billy looks up at her face. She still has her eyebrows raised, and there’s a little bit of concern in her eyes now. Those eyes- she has the exact same look as Will. They’re painful to look into when you have so much to hide.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, no, he-”

The sound of footsteps on the wood of the porch cuts her. Max comes back with a video recorder under her arm, followed by Will advising her on how to use it.

As Max gets in the front of the car Will comes to stand next to his mother to say goodbye and she puts a hand on his shoulder. She doesn’t look like she’s even thinking about it. She serves Billy an awkward smile again, as she was going to say something too real for a first real encounter.

“Well, bye, then! Drive safely, it’s getting dark!”

Billy can’t _wait_ to get away from those gazes. He can’t be skinned alive like this more than once a year.

“Will do, Mrs Byers, g’bye!”

Max leans over him to wave from his window.

“Bye Joyce! Bye, Will, see you tomorrow!”

Getting on the asphalt again, he closes the window and gets distracted by Max looking for god knows what in the back seat then at her feet.

“What are you doing?”

“Where’s your jacket?”

_Fuck_. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_. 

“F—I left it. In school- in my locker.”

Max leaves a careful pause before talking again.

“You _had it_ when you came and pick me up.”

Billy’s chest is getting crushed under a fucking truck. Now’s just the _perfect_ time for her to corner him.

“Yea- Yeah, _shut up_!”

Billy’s hairs are tingling on his arms and hands. Neil won’t notice. He won’t notice. If she keeps her big mouth _shut_ , that is.

Max looks at him with incomprehension, then anger, and maybe disdain.

“ _Ugh_! You’re such a _jerk_!”

Then she turns her back to him, facing her window and giving him the silence treatment.

Billy’s adrenaline high falls right then right there. Maybe it’s not much, but she wouldn’t have _said it_ in front of him a few months ago. It makes him calm down. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to react.

_Breathe_.

They pass the theater, then the police station. Then the wannabe-upper-class neighborhood. As the houses get less rooms, less stairs, more rust on the car parked in front of them, Billy feels like the tension has levelled down enough.

“So… You’re gonna- record things, Max? Make a movie or something?”

“Shut up, you wouldn’t understand. The only form of art you tolerate is hard rock and it’s getting old.”

The tone isn’t really attacking, though. It seems like banter. He’ll take it like banter.

So he chuckles, just once.

“Okay. So what are you gonna do? Make a mini-movie? Film your tricks?”

I could help you if you wanted.

Yeah, next step is to _say_ it.

“… Yeah, I’m gonna film my tricks.”

“How’re you gonna do?”

“I don’t know, I’ll figure it out.”

“You gonna… like, put the camera somewhere and try and skate in front of it or- I don’t know, have one of your friends hold the camera?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

I can help you if you want.

Come on.

“Maybe you can-”

“Look, I told you I’ll figure it _out_ , okay? I don’t _need_ anyone!”

She scoffs and gets out of the car as they arrive.

Billy swallows it all back. She’s already at the front door.

“Alright.”


	3. Interlude: The Jacket

ROBIN

Robin rolls her eyes. She _said_ the _breakroom_. Twice. But Steve is kissing Billy _again_ in the storage. She’s almost about to yell at him again, but it looks as it’s a buh-bye kiss.

Then Billy walks back into the store, shirt _almost_ all tucked back into his pants, and a small smile like she’s seen him wear just a very few times. Those few smiles are the only ones which seem to burst from the inside, instead of being plastered on. And they look radically different.

He glances at her as he goes for the door.

“See you around, Buckley.”

Oh, I _bet_ you will.

“Yeah, you _better_ , Hargrove.”

It’s really ridiculous, how obvious Billy is. Well to a queer eye, that is. 

Robin has watched this dude making doe eyes at Steve, batting his eyelashes and intently eyeing his ass for as long as she’s worked with him. And honestly, at the very beginning at least, she wasn’t gonna do anything about it, because as far as she was concerned, Steve was a douche, and he was a _straight_ douche.

_But_ , over the weeks she slowly came around to challenge both statements. 

Firstly, Steve is not a douche. Anymore. He’s chill about pretty much anything – yeah, _anything_ – he is more of a dork than Robin herself, and he’s friends with a bunch of thirteen year olds, which make him, a) a fucking loser, and b) not a douche.

Secondly, Steve started flirting _back_ in the middle of August. Not sure if he was doing it on purpose, because Robin knows fully well straight people can be like that – looking at _you_ Tammy Thompson. But it’s become clear when they got their new job that Steve was enjoying the whole thing. He actually talks _way too much_ about Billy.

Also she wasn’t gonna do anything about it, because Billy was just a cocky, insufferable, horny junior who had the whole fucking school in his pocket, so he didn’t really need any _help_ from her, okay? But this was also, in a way, not true. This guy seems to have way more shit to deal with than what she thought at first.

So, yes, she made it happen. 

Because it was just becoming frustrating.

And because Steve was honestly getting on her nerves whining all the time. He obviously needed to _bone_ , not taking vitamins or chai tea or other shit-Steve-says – Robin suspects it’s actually shit-Steve’s-mom-says-that-he-repeats.

“Oh, fuck, is he gone already?”

Robin turns her head towards the storage door, from where Steve is just, standing, holding a brown leather jacket in his hand.

“Yeah, he just drove off.”

Steve ughs tilting his head backwards, then comes back to the counter to sit next to her. His cheeks are all flushed red.

“Did you ever feel like- you were panicking big time but you’re, like, super calm at the same time?”

“Like panicking inside but showing nothing?”

“No- like, at the same time you’re almost in, like a trance ‘cause you’re completely freaking out, but you’re also- _whatever_ , you know?”

She looks at him, eyebrows raised. He sure has a ‘whatever’ face.

“Hmm. Yeah I think I see what you mean.”

Robin kinda hopes it’s gonna give something. Between them. They both seem to need _something_. Robin doesn’t know what exactly. But they each- yeah, they need something.

DUSTIN

Since last summer break, Steve always comes to pick Dustin and drive him to school on Thursday mornings. It’s _way_ cooler than when his mom drives him, it’s like being with your big brother, or something. They talk about their lives and all. And Steve recently started to take interest in D&D. He didn’t ask to play with them or anything yet, and the times he’s in Mikes basement with them he doesn’t play. But now he’s asking _questions_ and Dustin’s confident he’ll manage to make him be a part of it before Christmas.

After throwing his bag in the back seat, Dustin looks at Steve’s raised eyebrow.

“Hey, dude, how’s it goin’?”

Steve shoots his eyebrows even higher, smiling.

“Great, I’m great. What’s new with you? What’s, uh- this thing?”

Steve’s gesturing at Dustin’s wrist. His face bursts into a beam.

“It’s my new wristband! It’s leather and all, I found it in a store in Indianapolis!”

Steve nods with an amused smile.

“Didn’t think _you_ would be a punk someday… How’s your mum?”

“Oh, you know, she’s- No, she’s actually thinking of adopting a new cat, since it’s been a year and, well the cat’s not come _back_ , you know.”

“Yeah… Uh, hey, can you do something for me? Can you give this to Max?”

He’s holding a brown, worn-down leather jacket. Dustin fears he knows what it’s gonna be about. He squints his eyes.

“What’s this?”

“It’s, um- Billy’s jacket.”

Billy’s jacket. What the fuck.

Dustin doesn’t know what’s going on with Steve. This is almost like he was taking the fucking Demogorgon to the movies. This guy fucking destroyed his face, he was going to destroy Lucas’s face, and he broke everything in Will’s house. And he’s an _asshole_. To Max, and to everyone. _What_ exactly makes Steve want to give him even the benefit of the doubt? Give him a _second chance_. Like it’s even the _second_ one? 

Billy’s been an asshole for as long as he’s been in Hawkins. Trying to fucking kill them with his car, and all. He _would_ have killed Steve if Max hadn’t stopped him. And unlike what everyone in the Party seems to think, Dustin _does_ notice things, okay. The way Max was interacting with Billy, the way she was talking about him sometimes? Yeah, it wasn’t normal, okay. Brothers and sisters don’t act like that. They don’t try and control each other, they’re supposed to be _brothers and sisters_.

Now everyone seems to be cool with him like he didn’t screw _every_ chance he was given before. It’s like everyone but Dustin lost their fucking memory.

And _Steve_ of all people wants to bang with _him_? 

He cautiously takes the jacket between two fingers, suspiciously eyeing it.

“Aaalright…”

“Ugh… What are you doing, it’s not dirty or anything!”

Dustin pointedly eyes him.

“Well how would _I_ know, Steve? You’re both older than me, I don’t know exactly what you’re doing with that!”

“Oh- come on, please, Dusti-”

“I’m _joking_ , chill. But, dude, I really don’t know why you bother with _Billy_.”

Steve sighs and stays silent for a moment.

“I don’t know, I’m still figuring it out.”

Dustin doesn’t say anything more but _boy_ would he do it if Steve wasn’t going through a gay panic crisis right now.

LUCAS

Lucas lifts his eyes in time to see Dustin arrive to the bike rack and slamming his bag on the floor, followed by his jacket.

“I gotta give this to Max.”

Whoah. This is a foul mood he’s in today.

“Yeah? What?”

“The jacket! It’s Billy’s jacket, it’s Steve who- Don’t you think it’s fucking weird? Billy’s a fucking _trash_ pony! He fucking exploded his face! I don’t know what’s going-”

And then Dustin proceeds to blabber about his opinion on the whole Steve and Billy thing until they’re in class- and after.

Lucas, weirdly, doesn’t see the problem. Of course Billy _was_ trash a year ago, but… now that he’s becoming nicer, and most importantly, nicer to Max, he’s kinda starting to like him.

This also has a lot to do with the fact that Billy came to apologize, not only to Lucas, but to his _dad and mom_. And you gotta have balls to do that. He’s not gonna tell this to anyone, but this made Billy raise a notable amount in his esteem.

It went off really weirdly, because at first, Lucas didn’t know why _Billy Hargrove_ was at his door so when his dad came to see who that was, Lucas presented him as Max’s big brother. This lead to his dad warmly inviting Billy in the kitchen and presenting him to the rest of the Sinclairs. This setting was creeping Lucas out. His dad even seated Billy in the kitchen and his mom asked him if he wanted a coke.

The mood did a complete U-turn however, when Billy told what he was here for. He told Lucas’s parents _everything_ that happened that night – well, everything until Max put him down. He told them what he did to Lucas, and what he did to Steve. And how he didn’t want to _be_ like that or something.

This was unsettling. But it wasn’t the most unsettling.

When his dad told Billy he would support Lucas if he pressed charges, Lucas told Billy he wouldn’t if he stopped bullying Max. Then Billy told him he would stop no matter what. Told him that it shouldn’t be conditional. 

Billy was practically _asking_ for Lucas to press charges.

He didn’t, though.

He doesn’t really know _why_.

After Billy left his dad told him this wouldn’t have been what he’d chosen to do if he was in his position. And honestly, Lucas wasn’t sure about his decision at first.

But now Billy’s nicer. Lucas isn’t sure _this_ moment caused Billy a change of heart, because it must’ve been the needle in Max’s hand which caused _that_. But he felt that it had contributed to Billy being less of a fucking mouthbreather these past few months.

Also he started driving Lucas around sometimes, which meant more time with Max. And learning he can actually be funny sometimes. 

And most importantly, Max seems to have warmed up to Billy. She talks about him way more than she used to. And half of the time it’s in a good way, which is better than how Erica talks about Lucas.

So, he can _see_ Dustin’s point, but the fact is, now Lucas feels like he knows Billy more than Dustin. And he disagrees.

WILL

Mike and Will are the last to get to headquarters. At their entrance, Max takes her talkie.

“They’re here, El, we can start.”

Then she gives the talkie to Lucas, who holds it above the table, finger on the switch.

Will holds his breath. Emergency reunions are not something they often do. 

It’s the first time _Max_ calls for an emergency reunion. She nods her head towards Lucas, who presses the button.

“Okay, about Steve and Billy, I’ve got to make things clear.”

This seems to be the only trigger Dustin needed to start ranting about this for another hour.

“Oh my God, yeah, I don’t understand, I don’t know how he even think-”

“Shut your mouth, Dustin, I’ve got something to say, I didn’t call all of you for nothing, okay?

Dustin claps his mouth close, while she proceeds to look around at all of them, a determined look on her face.

“Look, I don’t care about you approving or not about Billy and Steve, okay, I’m just telling you that you’ve gotta shut _up_ about it! I don’t care if you’re talking between yourselves with shushy voices and you think no one listens, if there’s anyone who _could_ hear you, you’ve gotta _shut up_! I’m telling you, if anyone hears it from one of you, I’m beating _all_ your faces!”

“But-”

“ _No_ , Dustin. You can talk about it when we’re _alone_. Not anywhere someone can hear you, I’m serious. If Billy’s dad hears about this he’s gonna kill him.”

Will looks at Mike when he hears him scoff. Mike is rolling his eyes. He’s about to say something, but Max cuts him.

“I’m not just saying it, Mike! I’m telling you he is _going_ , to _kill him_. So shut up about it.”

Max has one of those tragic kinds of looks. Imploring and defying at the same time.

Will realized long ago that Max cares about Billy. Deeply. Now seems the time Mike and Dustin figure it out. Mike in particular.

El’s voice comes on the talkie.

“Max, is there something I can do?”

“No… Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.”

The bell rings and they all look at each other.

“Do you all promise?”

The assent is ubiquitous. Dustin hugs Max on the way out. But before she walks out to the corridor Will holds her wrist.

“Max, don’t- you can call my mom.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ve got to get the least amount of people involved. Just in case- you know.”

Will already told her it’s the _opposite_. 

“Just- back away if it’s too dangerous, okay?”

She breathes hard, her eyes getting slightly wet.

“Yeah… I’ll try. Thanks, Will.”

He puts an arm around her and she holds him back, her other arm holding Billy’s jacket and her skateboard.

MAX

Billy is leaning on the hood of the Camaro, an arm around his chest, smoking a cigarette. When he sees Max on her board he crushes it on the floor, smirking.

“So no one wants a cab ride today?”

She stops a few feet from him, kicking her board into her hand, holding the jacket in front of her. His smirk falls as his eyes drop to it. When they move back up to her face, it seems like Billy doesn’t know if he has to be scared or grateful. She extends her arm towards him.

Hesitant, he looks between her face and the jacket a few times, before moving his hand forward.

Max quickly snatches it back and behind her shoulder. A flick of surprise passes on his face.

“You’re being less of an asshole nowadays.”

His eyebrows slightly furrow in confusion, and his shoulders sag. He waits for her to continue.

“Keep. Making. Efforts.”

His chest deflates, and it looks like he’s biting his tongue. His eyebrows furrow more, then he looks at the floor. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to say anything mean, so Max holds the jacket towards him again.

He looks into her eyes, at the jacket, and up again, then snatches it from her, turning around to open his door. He puts the key in the ignition and makes the engine roar while she’s walking around the car to her seat.

When she’s buckled up though he doesn’t lower the handbrake right away. He adjusts his grip on it, intensely looking at the parking lot in front of them.

“-I’m trying…”

“I know. It’s good. Keep trying.”

Billy nods, but doesn’t pull off. He looks at the jacket in his lap, and lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Why is it so dirty?”

Max _did_ almost wrap it around her skateboard all afternoon. But Dustin dragged it on the floor the whole morning. Or so Lucas said.

“I just brought it back to you, I don’t know what happened to it.”

She hears him scoff, as he finally drives away from the school, but when she looks at the driver’s seat he’s smiling. Not smirking. Smiling.


	4. not the first time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day after Valentine's, Steve and Billy are still spending almost every saturday night together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so. I'm the slowest mofo alive, but I still completed this chapter, s/o to me!
> 
> Thank you for reading this for the first time if you are, thanks so much for coming back to this if you are! Hope you'll like it!  
> I'm currently writing the final chapter, which should be available in ten to twenty years from now, so buckle up!
> 
> Also shout outs to you for leaving kudos and comments on the previous chapters, it's so nice! I wanna hug you with social distancing!
> 
> Have a good time!

Valentine’s is so lame.

They’ve got to accentuate the marketing on the romantic comedies when it’s clear they’d make _way more_ profit on the adult section this time of year. But Keith doesn’t listen to Steve’s ideas. Feels like the Ewok impersonation screwed every chance he had of being taken seriously.

“Dingus, what’s torturing your mind? You put Annie in the horror section.”

Putting his face up from his arms on the counter, he lifts his eyes at Robin.

“Sorry- I… I think I also put The Muppet Movie there.”

Steve’s mind is not a hundred percent focused on work right now. Saturdays are like that. 10 p.m. comes excruciatingly slower every time since November. 

It’s not Robin’s fault. Steve is still glad to work with her every other day of the week. But Saturdays at Family Video never come to an end quickly enough. It seems to be partly because, god knows why, people are louder on weekends, and mostly because Steve has bigger fish to fry on Saturday nights. 

Billy has come to Steve’s almost every weekend since Halloween. The only exceptions were the weekend before Christmas, and last weekend ‘cause it was before a big basketball match. He always stays the night. There was even one time in the beginning of January when he just- well, stayed the night. He simply looked too exhausted. And it was one of the coolest nights Steve spent with him. They didn’t even do crazy things, it was just beers, and a joint, and Billy falling asleep on the couch in front of Flash Gordon. And don’t get him wrong, Steve _loves_ the sex they have. Like, _holy shit_ , does he love it. Even when Steve feels like it couldn’t feel better in a lifetime the next weekend proves him wrong. But the sex part has slowly become not the only cool thing about Billy.

“Is it Valentine’s? You sad ‘cause your boyfriend didn’t take you out yesterday?”

Steve rolls his eyes.

“Look- We’re not- We’re not _boyfriends_ , okay? We don’t- first we didn’t even talk about _that_ , and then we don’t even, like, go out.”

“Sounds like you got a sore ass about it.”

“Hey-”

“ _Steve_. It’s different for queers, okay? We can’t just _go out_. Like people do.”

“I know that! I don’t even- It’s just _you_ who think- I _don’t_ have a sore ass about not going out. Stop looking at me like that!”

She lifts her eyebrows and her hands in front of her as capitulation.

“Come on! I just want the workday to be finished, I’m not _troubled_!”

“Oh! So it’s that… You just can’t wait to bang your boyfriend after work, am I right?”

Steve’s blood rushes to his ears.

“J- _stop!_ I’m not-” 

It’s like he’s got the big purple cat from Alice in Wonderland in front of him. Steve’s chest nervously deflates.

“I know what you’re trying to do here.”

She points to her chest, a comically-innocent face on.

Then she sighs, falling on the chair behind the counter.

“You know, seems to _me_ like you’re boyfriends, Steve. I mean, what did you tell me last time? That you make him breakfast and you sleep better when you’re cuddling all night?”

“Hey, I didn’t say that! I said I slept better when he was _here_. And I told you that because _he_ said to me that he slept better at my house. And also I just told you that I slept better when there’s _someone else_ in my house.”

“Do you sleep better when your parents are here?”

“No- but it’s not the same thing, I sleep better when you’re here too, okay. I feel safer with someone around-”

“But not your parents.”

“H- No, but that’s another issue, okay?”

It’s becoming really difficult not to fill Robin in on the whole ‘there’s another fucked up dimension which tried to kill us last year and the year before that’ stuff. If only it was Steve’s choice, he would’ve told her a long time ago. But she’ll just have to stay in the fog on _why_ Steve can’t fall asleep when there’s no one in his house who he _could_ count on if something fucked up happened.

She frowns for a second. Then the corner of her mouth twitches.

“You actually didn’t say to me that Billy slept better at your house too.”

_Goddamnit._

She gets him every time. He seemingly can’t manage to remember the info he already let slip so he can overshare on the _right_ things.

“He _said_ \- he ‘doesn’t wake up every half-hour on my upper-class mattress’.”

“Aw, that’s cute.”

“And I don’t _make him_ breakfast, he just eats the cereals in my pantry.”

But he stays for breakfast now. That, Steve can admit, is incriminating evidence, even to him.

Robin crosses her arms, now in full attack mode.

“Alright, Dingus, you know what _else_ you said? You said, and I _quote_ : he’s not _just hot_ , he’s _cute_. And he’s Got. That. Smile.”

“I didn’t sing-song it like that.”

Steve’s objection is already doomed. She sighs heavily, setting her hands down on the counter, her gaze switching to something more serious.

“Come on. What are you afraid of, it’s _me_. You can tell _me_ you wanna make sweet love to him ‘cause you love him, I won’t _tell_ anyone.”

_Wait wait wait._

Oh, God. 

Oh, _fuck_.

“ _Steve_!”

“-what.”

“You just stopped functioning, doofus.”

Steve knows his hands are fidgeting, but he doesn’t feel them.

“But it’s been on for just- like-”

“Four months?”

_Yeah_. It’s _been_ four months already.

And Steve’s already head over heels for this guy. Maybe has been since January. 

“But it’s-” 

But it’s _Billy’s fault_. 

She tilts her head on the side, looking at him with a warm smile.

“It’s gonna be okay, dummy, you know.”

“But what if it’s only me?”

The smile could only last this long. Now she glares at him like he’s the dumbest person on Earth.

“Uh, are you aware that I _see_ the guy when he comes here? Actually forget that, are you even aware that I _see_? Trust me, it’s not just you.”

But Billy’s so… weird sometimes. He’s a fucking iceberg. He doesn’t seem like he completely closes up, because they talk a lot. But there are moments Steve feels like he’s about to say something, maybe deep, or emotional, but he doesn’t in the end. Like Steve isn’t _worth_ being informed about certain things.

And there’s also this thing he does all the time, when he says something like it disgusts him just thinking about it, so Steve refrains from asking.

“But I- I feel like I don’t know him that well, you know? Like, we never talk about- _heavy stuff_ , you know?”

“But _we_ don’t talk that much about heavy stuff, and you’re my best friend!”

“Yeah but sometimes we _do_. With him it just feels like he’s freezing right then right there the moment we seem to, like, approach the _vicinity_ of something deep, you know? Like we can be talking for an hour and he’s smiling and relaxed the whole time, but then I’m gonna say one thing, I don’t even know what, and he’s gonna, like go defensive, or, stop smiling and say he wants to sleep when he obviously _did not_ want to sleep, like ten seconds ago.”

Robin _drinks_ his words. It’s so soothing having someone who listens as intently. It’s also refreshing after eighteen years of distant, monotone ‘yes, yes, very good, son’ or straight up _silence_.

“Maybe with time, he’s gonna open up? I mean, with what you’ve said to me, these past few weeks, feels like you’re on a turning point. The both of you, I mean. And, two months ago you weren’t talking about sharing heavy stuff with him, ‘cause you weren’t even talking to me about the discussions you two have.”

True.

“But there’s also- I mean I’m-”

Come on, it’s Robin. Steve can _say_ it, right?

“I’m- afraid. Like, if I tell him something, and he laughs at me?”

“Why would he laugh at you? If you want to tell him something just do it. And if he’s an asshole about it, then dump him! It’s not that difficult!”

“It’s not that he’d laugh at me, like, after I say something, it’s just- He always- like he says things like he doesn’t want them so I’m like, okay, so I’ll never ask _that_.”

Robin tilts her head to the side.

“I don’t- really see what you mean.”

“It’s- he’ll say things like- it’s the last thing he wants to do, you know? Like he’ll say… ‘Oh if there was _this_ happening, that would be, like, the lamest thing to ever happen’.”

“You got an example?”

“Well-”

Steve sighs.

“There was this time, like a month ago, when we were at my house and- we were on the couch, like, just kissing, you know? Like without tongue or anything, it was just- and, you know we kissed for a while, and then he stops and he says ‘You’re kissing me like’- no, he said ’ _Why_ are you kissing me like you wanna- dine- _wine_ and dine me and take me to the prom?’ And I was- taken aback, you know? And my first thought _then_ was, like, ‘cause maybe I want to.”

“So you said yes?”

“ _No_! I’m telling you, he says that- with a _tone_ that says, like- it’s like ‘Why the _fuck_ are you kissing me like you wanna wine and dine me and take me to the prom?’ you know?”

“So he became aggressive?”

“ _No_ , no it wasn’t aggressive, it was like, ‘this is so ridiculous’ like, ‘it would be so lame if you wanted that’”

“So what did you say?”

“I don’t know, something like, seems you like it, or something like that, but not seriously, you know…”

“And then?”

“Well- we, continued kissing, like- it hadn’t happened, it was-”

“Wait. How?”

“How what?”

“ _How_ did you two continue kissing? Was it the same way as _before_ he interrupted?”

She sounds astounded. 

“Uh- yeah, we- kissed like that for a little while longer, and then… things got-”

“Okay, I think I heard enough, you can stop there. Actually I think I got it.”

“You got it? You got what?”

Steve doesn’t get _shit_.

“Stick with me here, dingus. He basically said two things there, with his tone, and all. He said: one: you’re kissing me weird; two: d’you want to wine me, and dine me and- take me to the prom, was that it?”

“Yeah.”

“So two things, right? You with me on this?”

“… Yeah?”

“And he interrupted your kiss to say that, and then he started kissing you again, the same way, am I still right?”

“Yeah.”

“So he didn’t actually have a problem with the way you two were kissing.”

“… You think so?”

“Yeah. With what you told me, I’m pretty sure I’m right.”

“O-kay… So what? So he had no problem kissing like that, so _what_? Should I, like do the opposite of what he says?”

“No, Steve, what did I say earlier? He said _two things_. And he actually had no problem with the kissing. So…”

She raises her eyebrows, expecting. Steve can’t make his brain work when people expectantly look at him like that. She sighs.

“… So he wants you to take him to the prom and shit!”

Steve, too, raises his eyebrows.

“What?”

“That’s science!”

“Wh- _No_ , I promise you he- He says that like it’s _literally_ the last thing he’d want to do!”

“I’m sure I’m right. And you said he does that all the time, and I think it’s because he’s afraid you’ll say no. So he says no _before you_.”

Steve’s arms fall on his sides.

“But- what am I supposed to do, then? Do I go to him and say sorry I got it wrong? ‘Cause I’m _trying_ , you know, I-”

“Hey, calm down, Steve, you don’t have to blame _you_ for not- getting it or something. I mean, personally? I prefer people who say what they think and what they want instead of giving hints or doing fucking reverse psychology, but I guess everybody’s got their own problems… You don’t have to feel guilty, okay? Steve?”

“… Yeah, okay. But- what do I do, then?”

“Well… I don’t know, you could- you know, try, next time he says something like that, try and say ‘yeah, I wanna take you to the prom, do I rent a suit? Do I bring booze and come pick you up at your house with flowers and shit?’ Try doing that and asking what he actually wants. Or maybe, even- if you feel like it you can suggest something.”

“… Okay.”

She puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

His back relaxes and he gives her a small smile.

“Thanks, Robin.”

“No problem.”

It’s almost midnight when Steve is startled awake by the door ring. Heaving himself from the couch, he reaches for the remote to stop the restless sounds and aggressive colors of evening commercials. 

After he unlocks it, the front door reveals a pretty pleasing view. Billy is leaning on the doorframe, an arm over his head and a thumb hooked to his front pocket, hips cocked and an intoxicating smile on like he stepped out of a magazine cover. Or a porno. 

He does look like he made an effort to brave the cold. He’s got his leather jacket on over his denim one. But his shirt is, as always, open to the navel. His head is slightly leaning to his side, making the skin of his neck glow and stand out in the warm light coming from the inside of the house. 

“Hi.”

Steve smiles as his eyes come back to Billy’s devilish grin.

Billy knows how to make an entrance. Because he knows how damn sexy he looks. Steve used to think it was just an innate thing about him but it slowly seems to unravel that Billy makes a lot of conscious efforts in order to appear this confident.

“Hey, Billy.”

That smile. It’s _that_ smile Steve told Robin about. Billy’s face just changed to a softer, more childish grin when Steve started talking.

“Were you sleeping, princess?”

“I was- on the way, I just- Uh, come in, if you want.”

As he makes his way to the rack Steve closes the door, raking his eyes over Billy’s ass and their swaying when he walks, Billy’s shoulders when he shrugs his jackets off, Billy’s fluffed-up hair and the bouncing of the curls…

“You look pretty stunning, tonight.”

Halfway from kicking his shoes off, Billy raises his eyes at him, chuckling once as his eyes turn back to his feet.

“ _Please_ , I _always_ look stunning.”

Then as he seems satisfied with where his boots are displayed, he comes to crowd Steve against the door, his voice slightly lower-pitched.

“You look gorgeous too, sleepyhead.”

“Hmm, thanks.”

Steve hooks a hand behind Billy’s compliant neck to firmly press his lips against his. Billy enthusiastically responds with a huffed cheery moan and slips his hands under Steve’s t-shirt. This proves to be a very good way to stir Steve’s skin from the drowsiness it was mushed into. Fingertips arouse flickers of electricity on his sides and up and down his spine. Musky Cologne wraps around his every senses as to heat him up entirely, and the skin under his own fingers is already hot to the touch.

Now Steve has interacted with Billy enough to know some of the things he likes. And he likes Steve’s hands on his butt. Like, really early on. Like, right now, after one minute of him being here, and after twenty seconds of making out. But Billy doesn’t like rushing the whole time. He likes changes of pace. He likes hurry, then leisurely, then frantic again, and he likes when Steve initiates the change too. He also likes to say what he wants to do, and he likes when _Steve_ says what he’d like to do. All in all, Billy is a cool person to fuck with. Steve may or may not be addicted.

Billy bucks his hips forward when Steve grips at his ass and he smiles against his mouth. Breaking the kiss, he buries himself in Steve’s neck then purrs to the skin while giving it flicks of his tongue.

“What were you doin’? Nappin’ on the recliner?”

Oh, so Billy wants to start with ‘leisurely’ today.

“Napping on the couch actually…”

“Hmm… Wanna fuck on the couch?”

Steve chuckles. So _not_ leisurely then.

“Hell yeah…”

Billy’s mouth is on his again, his hands messing Steve’s hair as usual, and his tongue searching for his. Then as they laboriously make it to the living room entrance, Steve pulls back, a hand holding Billy’s mullet.

“I’m gonna get- everything’s in my room…”

Billy’s eyelids are half-closed at first, then open as his smile blooms. His fingers un-tangle from Steve’s hair and go down to the only two closed buttons of his shirt, Steve’s eyes following. He shrugs the shirt off, obviously glad to own every bit of Steve’s attention. Throwing the shirt on the floor, he walks backwards into the living room, eyes daring.

“Don’t be too long, pretty boy, I might start without you…”

His hands are already on the button of his jeans, which shakes Steve into movement and into a run up his room to retrieve everything they need.

When he returns a naked Billy is laying back on the couch, a wicked grin blooming at Steve’s sight. 

“You’re one step behind, baby.”

Billy turns on his side when he says that, everything on display. Steve chuckles.

“What?”

Rolling his eyes, Billy sits up then stands to take the lube and condoms from Steve’s hands and throw them on the couch. Then he tugs Steve’s tee-shirt up, eyes hooded. Oh, okay.

“Do I have to do everything myself?”

Steve’s dick has behaved in such a weird way lately. It’s like it’s rewired to perk up at everything _Billy_. His smell, his breath, his _voice_. 

Steve discards the shirt while Billy’s hands slowly slide down from his neck, over his clavicle, along his chest… Billy lets out a sigh, eyes following his fingers. Steve sometimes wonders if Billy could be feeling a little bit like he is. He swiftly reaches at his pants to get rid of the thought. As they pool on the floor he sinks his fingers into Billy’s hips, guiding him back to the couch.

Soon he’s lying on Billy, a knee between his legs, grinding against his thigh and holding his neck and jaw while entangling their tongues.

It’s fascinating how the more they fuck, the earlier Billy lets go. His back arches as if to beg for Steve’s skin to be stuck to his. His eyes stay closed and his mouth stays open, tongue in reach, even when Steve pulls back to look at him. Steve wants to believe Billy wouldn’t abandon himself like that if he didn’t feel at least a little bit like he does.

Billy’s eyelids slowly uncover his baby blue irises. And at this moment Steve _does_ believe it. Truly.

Biting his tongue, Steve softly presses his thumb in the middle of Billy’s lower lip. The corners of his plump mouth lift as he flicks Steve’s finger with his tongue. Steve’s eyebrows raise and his cheeks heat. 

_So_ fucking gorgeous.

Running his thumb along one side then the other of Billy’s lip, Steve’s breath runs short. 

“You wanna watch?”

His eyes dive back into blue, ears boiling both from anticipation and- a little shame.

“Watch- what?”

“Watch me.”

Billy’s grin makes Steve redden even darker.

“Watch you the whole- thing?”

“Oh, not the _whole_ time, I’m not that cruel…”

Oh God. An idea starts blooming in Steve’s mind. _That_ would be… Something he hasn’t dared asking until now. 

“I can- can I watch you prepare?”

Billy grins even wider, the tip of his tongue sweeping over his teeth.

“Sure you can…”

Steve wants to kiss him again, but his chin is stopped by two of Billy’s fingers, then his shoulder is pushed away so he’s sat on the armrest, an inch away from falling backwards, maintained in this unsteady balance by Billy’s foot on his stomach. Billy’s smile turns wicked.

“ _No. Touchin’_.”

He pauses, raising his left eyebrow.

“’Til I _say so_.”

Then his foot is gone from Steve’s belly, and his hand snatches the lube before generously coating two of his fingers. His eyes never get away from Steve’s. He leans backwards and lifts a leg on the backrest of the couch, both his hands heading oh-so slowly downwards. When one of them reaches his cock and starts to stroke it, Steve mirrors the gesture. But Billy stops, shaking his head once.

“Uh-uh.”

Steve can’t believe it.

“Wh- I can’t touch _myself_?”

Billy doesn’t answer. He just raises his eyebrows, gaze unfaltering. 

With a trembling sigh, Steve places his hands on each side of him, clutching the armrest. He can _feel himself_ throbbing.

But at least Billy seems satisfied. His hand is back stroking his cock, the other grasping the inside of his thigh. And, millimeter by millimeter, his fingers progress to his hole, circling it, agonizingly slow.

“You watchin’?”

Billy has not detached his gaze from Steve’s eyes, so there’s no way he doesn’t _know_.

“-Yeah.”

Now that Steve knows how his voice sounds, he thinks, just maybe, Billy wanted to hear how out of breath he is. 

Steve wonders if he should love this as much as he does. There’s a voice in his brain telling him how fucked up he is, but it was a kind of similar one who told him not to look at boys, so… Maybe Steve can just enjoy the show. 

And what a _show_. This is not just Billy’s fingers going in and out. Well, first of all he doesn’t do _just that_ with his fingers. But this is also his thighs clenching, his feet curling, his head falling backwards from time to time, his chest heaving faster, his arms and shoulders contracting as he tries to reach the proper pressure point inside, all while letting out sighs, aborted moans and almost-aborted ‘Steves’, as if to rub it to his face that he can’t _touch_ anything! Tiny beads of sweat appear more and more on his torso, reflecting the warm, yellow light of Steve’s living room, almost making Billy shimmer. This should be gross, right? Steve shouldn’t lose his breath because of _that_. But _fuck_.

As Billy puts a third finger in and looks like he crooks it alongside the other two, Steve’s mind takes over with the thought Billy could actually do porn, making him compose some random cheesy music in his head to season all of this.

“You got your mouth gaping, pretty boy.”

Steve pulls his jaw back up, but doesn’t completely close his mouth.

“You’re- you’re _gorgeous_ …”

“Think you can do better?”

Steve bites his lip.

“…Like, can I be- more gorgeous?”

Billy rolls his eyes to show exasperation, but the rest of his face and the tight shrug of his shoulders just show his bashfulness.

“No, like- you think you can do- better than my fingers. Like with your _dick_ , you know?”

Oh God. Billy is so _cute_. Those kinds of moments are Steve’s favorite because- he feels Billy acts this way only with him. All shy and unsure, and _showing it_. His smile widens.

“Two words: yes, and tacky.”

“What’s tacky?”

Steve chuckles.

“Your line, it’s tacky.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you wanna stay on that armrest the whole night, is that it?”

“ _No!_ ”

Billy flashes him a mean grin, before letting out a shuddered breath.

“Come on, Steve…”

He doesn’t need it said twice. He almost trips and falls down the couch when he surges forward, Billy’s hand gripping his arm, incidentally saving him from a concussion. Billy chuckles.

“Someone’s in a hurry…”

“That’s rich, coming from you, I couldn’t even touch myself!” 

Billy shushes him, fingers sliding in his nape to bring their mouths closer. Ears red, both from annoyance and anticipation, Steve clashes his lips against his, maybe a little harsher than necessary. He comes to lay on Billy, and their skins melt against each other. 

After rutting together for a little while, Billy starts to shift, trying hard to keep his mouth on Steve’s. _Oh_. He’s turning around. This slowly results to an extremely unsteady angle for a kiss as Billy settles on his side, his back against Steve’s chest. His hand holds Steve’s hip while the small of his back arches against his crotch.

At one point Steve is kind of compelled to detach their lips to search for a condom, because, it’s getting too fucking hot in here.

As he gets seated to scan the couch, his eyes brush over down Billy’s side. They do a double take.

“Hey- uh. You’ve- got a big bruise on your back.”

“What?”

Billy turns his head around to look where Steve is pointing the yellowing bruise covering all the right side of his lower back, not daring to trace the outline with his finger. Billy lets out a chuckle before answering.

“Yeah, a fucking moron kicked the ball at me last week’s practice.”

Steve’s eyes then land on the back of Billy’s thigh. This one is greenish on the outskirts but dark purple at the center. Like almost black. This ball must’ve been kicked by a cannonball to make that kind of color.

“And he kicked the ball at you twice?”

“What?”

“You’ve got another one here.”

Billy crooks his neck to look.

“Oh! No, this one I fell and some guy tripped on me. Monday’s match.”

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. They were running and all, the guy must’ve tripped at full speed.

“Oh, okay.”

Then Billy takes Steve’s hand off his thigh and guides it to his belly.

“Hey, _Steve_ , why don’t you make me think about something else than basketball, huh?”

His hooded eyes, both focused on Steve’s mouth, his parted lips, and his hand guiding Steve’s downwards can only make him oblige. Lavishing Billy’s neck with bites, licks, kisses, he starts lazily stroking him as his leg comes into contact with the lube.

Billy looks so, _so_ gorgeous. He _sounds_ so gorgeous. God, his _skin_ tastes fucking gorgeous too. Steve feels only half conscious in the rhythm they’ve taken. He’s not taking any sensitive input into account if it’s not Billy. And right now Billy is everywhere he can think of. And he grips back at Steve. And he tilts his head back while meeting Steve’s thrusts halfway. And he’s _moaning_. 

_God_ no one can be that beautiful. Billy’s eyes are closed, his mouth half open while he pants in synch with their moves. He looks _wrecked_. He sounds like fucking Heaven. And Steve thinks, maybe he _could_ …

“You sound like you’re havin’ fun…”

After a blissed out chuckle, Billy breathes a ‘Yeaah…’ not even opening his eyes. 

At first Steve feels like he’s not gonna ask after all. But _come on_ it’s been four months he’s wanted to try it out!

“Could we- switch?”

Billy turns his head around the second Steve manages to get those words out. Eyes hungry, he bites lip.

“Oh-ho, yeah…”

Billy gets Steve out of him with a huff then starts fumbling to sit up, but lays back down immediately.

“But just- let’s pause a minute, okay?”

“You alright?”

Billy smirks at that and sits up again, slowly this time, leaning on his elbows, his eyes fixed on Steve’s.

“Yeah, I just don’t wanna faint ‘cause of dehydration, princess.”

Still panting, he lets his head lazily fall backwards a moment, before turning his face to Steve again. 

“You know you kinda look like that guy in Top Gun…”

Steve’s eyebrows shoot upwards. His mouth lifts at the corners.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, just… but, you know, more like when he had long hair in that fairy tale movie last year… And I mean, you’ve got- different eyes, but still.”

Steve’s smile grows larger.

“Is that a compliment?”

Billy rolls his eyes, his chest visibly contracting at those words.

“Yeah- Yeah it’s a compliment, I meant- I meant you have kinder eyes, you know, prettier eyes- Jesus.”

Now Billy pinches the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut. Steve can’t believe what he’s hearing. He tries to play it cool, taking a somehow amused, somewhat teasing tone.

“Well, thanks, I mean… D’you like Tom Cruise a lot?”

Billy just looks at him and lets out an irritated scoff, then grabs the lube on one end of the couch, popping it open while seizing Steve’s right hand. He spreads it open then pours half the thing onto Steve’s palm and fingers, making his eyes go wide.

“Why don’t you try and prepare yourself while I go grab a drink, smartass?”

And he just- disappears to the kitchen, leaving Steve’s cheeks red, eyes still fixed on his hand dripping with lube.

Okay. He’s already done this. He’s already done this on his own and he managed to put two fingers in _and_ pleasure himself in the process. And Billy’s already done this to him also and _god_ , it did the job _extremely_ well. Billy even put three. This is just- This is just the same as when he’s on his own except Billy’s here. This is just the same as when Billy did it except- yeah, it’s _not_ the same. It’s fucking new territory. Steve’s never- pleasured himself in front of someone. Well- he did but- the focus was never on him. He’s not sure he’s gonna be able to put on such a show like Billy just did.

While Steve deliberates over his sticky hand, Billy comes back to the couch, putting his glass on the small dresser by the armrest. He takes a stride over Steve to settle between him and the backrest, then pulls Steve’s wrist to him. He does it with still this sass about him, but his touch around the wrist is soft – Steve almost wants to think ‘delicate’, but won’t due to certain injunctions Billy seems to live by. 

Billy guides Steve’s dripping hand down between his crotch and Steve’s ass. Then as Steve’s fingers come in contact with his skin, Billy lowers his head towards his ear.

“You want guidance, princess?”

Steve’s cheeks start burning.

“-Uh…”

Billy nibbles at his ear just as he was about to answer, so the only thing coming out of Steve’s mouth is a pathetic aborted moan of surprise. Billy just purrs.

“Why don’t you start with one?”

What?

“One- Oh, yeah- okay.”

So Steve presses his finger inside himself, Billy’s hand accompanying his move. That’s okay, this isn’t even a foreign sensation. Steve slowly breathes out. It’s true that- he doesn’t do this that often. The position he has to get in is uncomfortable because he has to strain one side of his back and contract the other, but right now Billy’s holding him so he doesn’t have to do that kind of effort. So he can focus on the sensation. Or he can continue focusing on what he has and hasn’t done yet and how he usually does it so he doesn’t actually focus on the _now_. Yeah, that would be the kind of dumbass thing he would totally do as a signature move. 

“Steeve?”

“Mmh?”

“Something wrong?”

“No, it’s- it’s good.”

“Uncomfortable?”

“Uh… No, it’s okay.”

Billy falls silent, audibly searching in his head for what could be wrong. His legs come to rest against Steve’s all the way down, and the hand not holding Steve’s wrist slides through his hair. He flutters kisses and bites along Steve’s jaw. Then Steve notices that the hand accompanying his own is now more _accentuating_ its moves. _Deepening_ them. Billy’s voice lowers.

“Overthinking?”

Steve’s breath catches in his throat, both from the question and the sensation he gets from his hand being a little more unpredictable than usual.

“Um… y- yeah, maybe?”

“Don’t overthink.”

Steve almost chuckles. Well at least a part of him loosens up at this stupid answer. This could be something _Steve_ would say. He smirks.

“Wow thanks, helps a lot.”

Billy pushes Steve’s finger deeper, making Steve’s breath catch again.

“You know…”

Billy tugs at his hair.

“I think _this_ does.”

He marks his words with another thrust of Steve’s hand. Making him let out a whimper. And close his eyes. And thinking about putting another finger in. 

“Wait-”

Billy’s teeth stop biting his neck, an almost – worried? – look on his face. Steve looks downwards as much as he can while joining his pointing finger to the middle one, slowly thrusting them in while a grin blooms on Billy’s mouth. He’s quick to catch on and get his lips back on Steve’s jaw, and neck, and shoulder, and _throat_ … Steve huffs a moan as his fingers, pushed by Billy, brush by that sweet spot, clueing him to thrust deeper, making them circle just a bit.

Billy nips at the skin behind Steve’s ear, thrusting against his ass. That earns him a whimper, followed by a humming moan as Steve’s fingers continue doing wonders.

“I’m ready, aren’t I?”

Billy chuckles, breath short.

“You tell me…”

“Huh- I’m ready.”

“Maybe a third one first?”

Steve huffs in frustration. He joins his ring finger to the mess, letting Billy do the rest. That’s effectively more stretch. But he manages to relax enough after just a few thrusts.

“I’m ready, alright? Come on!”

Wow, this came out as desperate, didn’t it?

But he’s just rewarded by another bite at the jaw, Billy’s warm breath hitching against his neck. Then in less than five seconds Billy sits up, snatches a condom from the other side of the couch and rolls it on. Five seconds may be exaggerated but- he seems in a hurry.

Then Billy moves Steve just a little so he’s lying half on his side, one leg folded to prevent him from being completely on his stomach. He plasters himself against him and starts sucking a harsh bruise at the base of Steve’s neck.

“Ah, come on!”

“It’s winter, pretty boy, you can put a scarf on!”

His tone is full of bite, but as soon as Steve feels him position himself, Billy places a gentle kiss at the same spot. Then he’s almost whispering.

“Alright, sweetheart?”

Steve feels his cheeks heat up even more, then hums in agreement. He never knew how much he loved pet names before Billy.

When he pushes inside it feels… stretching. Steve screws his eyes shut, grinding his teeth. Billy pauses.

“Still alright?”

Steve now just realizes he stopped breathing. He manages to huff out a little.

“How- How big _are_ you?”

Billy chuckles, it seems, with disbelief.

“You’ve _seen_ me, man, I’m like, average. You bigger than me!”

All of this is said with a hand softly stroking Steve’s belly. Billy’s lips brush the shell of Steve’s ear.

“You want just the tip, princess?”

Steve huffs in annoyance.

“Hey, fuck you, man, just let me- adjust for moment.”

Billy flutters kisses all along his neck and shoulder.

“Try and breathe. Breathe and relax…”

His hand comes up to Steve’s chest while the kisses turn to little bites. So Steve tries to do just that. After a moment the burning part of the sensation seems to dim enough.

“Okay, I think you can- try and- uh… continue.”

Billy whispers an ‘alright’ to Steve’s neck and starts pushing in again, going a little deeper with each slow thrust. It feels stretching again, but Steve tries to breathe, focusing on the _rest_ of the sensation. Like the heat of Billy’s skin against the whole length of his body. Like the friction inside which seems to be impossibly _everywhere_. And the fact that Billy’s starting to go deep enough to put pressure on _this_ spot. Billy sinks his teeth in the muscle of Steve’s shoulder. And it’s the fucking best. There still comes a moment when it’s all becoming overwhelming.

“Okay, stop- just a m- how. How deep are you?”

Steve chews at the inside of his cheek, eyes screwed shut.

“Almost completely in.”

Wow. Billy’s voice is _hot_. With slight quivers and rushing a bit and- It just makes Steve moan a little.

“Okay…”

Steve takes another deep breath.

“Okay, push in again.”

Billy smiles against Steve’s upper back.

“Gonna be bossy now?”

“Just do it, Jesus!”

Billy obliges, his hips bucking forward. He stops again, and whispers to Steve’s hair.

“All the way in, baby…”

Steve shivers. Billy’s hand slides down to his hip.

“And also. _Bi-lly_.”

The corner of Steve’s mouth lifts at that.

“Okay… Move, _Billy_.”

Billy does just as he’s told, making Steve blurt out a whimper, immediately biting his lip to prevent the sound from escaping too much.

“Alright, pretty boy?”

Steve hums his agreement, nodding as his head gets dizzy. The angle is so _nice_. As every thrust stretches and brushes and pressures so many things inside, Steve thrusts back to meet Billy halfway, once in a while, then every time. He physically can’t close his mouth, neither can he open his eyes. Billy’s hands burning through his hair, on his hip, around his stomach, his chest sinking into his back, Steve can’t think. Just feel. Feel himself boiling. Feel Billy’s embrace tighten. Feel.

His core is burning in such a pleasurable way. And at some point he feels his mind and body go ablaze in a simultaneous blast of heat. It dazzles him in spite of closed eyelids.  
It doesn’t last long but as he goes down from his high he can only smile, eyes still closed to chase the last bits of it.

They’re both panting and still flushed against each other. That was _definitely_ the best sex Steve ever had. He turns his face around to kiss Billy.

After a good twenty minutes of calming down, only interrupted once by Billy throwing the _not_ -knotted condom in the fucking middle of the fucking living room floor and by a chuckling “Aw fuck you man, that’s disgusting!”, followed by a “Yours is all over the couch, genius!” the room feels peaceful. Maybe peaceful enough for Steve to try and ask what Billy really wants. He turns his head around to him, his back still flushed against his chest. Billy’s eyes are closed. Steve turns his whole body to face him.

“Hey?”

“Mm?”

“D’you- would you like to- watch a movie?”

“Mm… yeah, why not.”

Billy’s soft murmur gives away his state of almost-sleep. Then as an afterthought he clarifies.

“Please not a movie with just Queen music, though…”

“What’s wrong with Queen?”

“Nothing, just- not Queen for the _whole_ movie, that’s all.”

Steve smiles at Billy’s sleepy, relaxed face.

“Yeah, alright…”

He’s probably gonna fall asleep minutes after the beginning, so Steve doesn’t even know if he should bother going away from the couch, but this is just a gateway to what he actually wants to ask.

“It’s not- the first time we’re gonna watch a movie, right?”

Billy’s baby blue irises slowly show themselves, his eyebrows frowning the slightest way possible.

“Yeah, no… It’s not- the first time.”

“We could go to the movies sometime?”

_There_. Steve isn’t even sure if this was a question or an affirmation, but it’s _said_. He can be proud. Hell yeah, _that_ is having some balls, Harringt-

“Oh, what, you wanna take me on a _date_ , Harrington?”

And there _he_ is. That was predictable. All sarcastic and shit, Steve’s gonna show him. Time to shine. Steve takes the most confident tone he’s capable of.

“Yeah. To the movies. Next Friday, eight p.m. Would you like that?”

Billy looks taken aback. Like Steve closed his mouth shut for once. Lifting his eyebrows, Steve talks again, unfazed.

“Would you like that, Billy?”

Billy’s eyes are searching, extremely exposed. Like nothing Steve’s seen before. Then they skirt away as a small ‘yeah…’ falls out of his mouth. Like he can’t put himself in the firing line with more than one mean of communication.

Steve gives him a nonchalant smile.

“Cool! So it’s a date!”

Billy turns his eyes back on him, then nods, still looking flabbergasted. Steve’s tone makes a sharp turn towards marshmallow-like softness.

“You don’t- you don’t have to pretend with me, you know? Pretend you don’t _like things_ or something…”

Billy nods again, whispering a feeble ‘kay’, his gaze intensely focused on a random point three inches away from Steve’s face.

“Is that what you want? Go on a date?”

“Yeah.”

“Well me too.”

Billy bites his lip, eyes looking down. Steve brings his hand around his middle, drawing his face close enough for their noses to almost touch, testing the grounds. Billy closes the space between their lips.

Billy holds him tight during this particular kiss. And Steve reciprocates.

Eventually tongues turn to lips, turn to skin. Billy’s head rests on Steve’s chest. While lightly playing with Billy’s hair, Steve lets his mind wonder.

“What’s… a song you like- that I wouldn’t expect you to like?”

Billy lets out a soft sigh.

“What d’you expect me to like?”

“You know… Metallica, Van Halen and Scorpions.”

Billy’s chest startles in a chuckle.

“Three bands? Alright, should be real’ difficult to find one song I like _not_ from just those three bands.”

His tone is sardonic but he doesn’t go on. Steve smirks.

“Okay, go on, then!”

He pauses, visibly thinking.

“What are you expecting, like something funny? Something ridiculous?”

“I don’t know, just… Something you like, that- wouldn’t be expected from you, you know. Like- like, I like Rock the Casbah from The Clash.”

Billy sniggers.

“Yeah, of course you like Rock the Casbah.”

“What? That’s not, like, my usual taste in music, did you expect me to say that?”

Billy pinches the side of Steve’s hip.

“Well, you hang out with Byers, who listens to punk shit like The Clash for people who think they’re edgy, and, Rock the Casbah is like, their most pop-driven song, so… If you’d said ‘I like one song from The Clash’- No, if you’d said to me ‘Jonathan Byers made me listen to this really cool song’, I would’ve said Rock the Casbah.”

Steve feels his cheeks redden. Is he so predictable?

“Okay smartass, then guess what my favorite artist is if you’re such a genius.”

“Music artist?”

_Motherfucker_. Steve had counted on the loophole.

“Yeah, alright, music artist.”

Billy shifts against Steve’s chest, and Steve can feel his smirk against his skin.

“You know what, I’ll guess your five favorite music artists, ‘cause you’re not just, predictable, you’re, like, a pop music establishment advocate.”

Okay, _ouch_. Steve flicks Billy’s shoulder.

“Whatever, try, Mr ‘Steve-is-so-predictable’.”

“Okay, let me think… In your top five, there’s Wham!, that’s for sure. And Bruce Springsteen.”

He’s right.

Steve’s about to say so, but Billy shushes him.

“No don’t tell me yes or no, I wanna see if I can get them all.”

He pauses again, then “Madonna”

Ha! Of course not, Steve likes Cyndi Lauper. In your face.

“Then Duran Duran. I don’t know the exact order but this is in your top three.”

Fuck.

“And, _of course_ your favorite band is Tears for Fears.”

Steve lets this without an answer. He doesn’t know _why_ he feels so stupid. Doesn’t know why he’s so ordinary.

Billy lifts his head with a grin.

“Did I get everything right?”

Steve pouts. He mumbles.

“I don’t like Madonna…”

“You don’t like her or is she in your top twenty and not top five?”

Steve’s cheeks redden even more, his eyes escaping towards the wall.

“…Shut up.”

This time Billy bursts out laughing.

“Aw, come on, you upset, pretty boy? Don’t be, I just- I’m just good at reading people.”

Maybe Steve is a childish bitch, but at this moment the only thing he wants to do is sulk. So he chooses not to answer.

“And I lied a little, I didn’t guess Duran Duran, Robin told me you liked them.”

From the corner of his eye he sees Billy searching for his gaze. 

“Come on… you know what you’d like? Dire Straits, bet you’d like that. And they’re edgy and experimental enough you can brag about liking them to Byers.”

Steve just keeps his mouth shut in a pout. Billy’s grin falls a little. Then he falls silent too, putting his head down to Steve’s chest again. Then his voice is much shyer.

“I like Make Your Own Kind of Music, by Mama Cas.”

Steve turns his face a little, but he can only see Billy’s forehead. The pout slowly dissolves as curiosity starts to kick in.

“That sounds vaguely familiar.”

“You know it?”

“I just- Mama Cas sounds familiar.”

“She was in the Mamas and the Papas.”

“Huh.”

Steve can’t put his finger on where he’s seen this name.

“Maybe I heard it, what’s it like?”

Billy’s shoulder slightly tenses.

“It’s- it’s, like- _you gotta, make your own kind of music, sing your own special song…_ um-”

“Hey, I know that!”

Steve knows exactly where he’s seen written Mama Cas. On the 45’ of this exact song. 

Also, _wow_. Billy’s voice is so _clear_ when he sings. So gentle.

Steve rushes to the cabinet beside the television where his parents keep their records. He finds it after less than twenty seconds. They don’t have that many. Steve has more tapes than his parents have records. And this is the batch they spent both their life hoarding. By the way they were never money-tight so it’s not like they couldn’t get _more_. Steve has a lot of reasons to consider his parents insensitive and boring but this one? It’s the deal breaker.

He puts the record on and goes back to the couch to lie beside Billy, who looks- utterly dumbstruck.

A woman’s mellow voice starts crooning.

_Nobody can tell ya, there’s only one song worth singing-_

Billy is looking… nowhere. Steve’s shoulders start to anxiously tighten.

“What?”

Billy’s blue eyes focus on him again. Then they go to the record player.

“Nothing, I just- didn’t know you had it. Haven’t listened to it in a while.”

He seems transfixed by the spinning record as her voice starts singing louder and louder.

_-’cause it hangs them up, to see someone like you…_

Billy’s face is… kind of blank. Steve didn’t anticipate this. He tries to take the edge off.

“W- We can sing along, what d’you say?”

Steve feels like the most stupid fucker alive. He doesn’t even know what’s happening. Billy looks in his eyes again and weakly nods as the chorus plays. Steve does not sing along. Instead he kisses Billy’s neck, light as a feather. He strokes his side to make him relax. Only after the chorus finishes does Billy start singing along, his voice the shyest Steve has ever heard it be.

_You’re gonna be knowing, the loneliest kind of lonely-_

As the verse continues though, Billy’s voice becomes more and more assured, really switching as the second chorus comes along. It comes from his chest now.

_But you’ve gotta, make your own kind of music, sing your own special song,_

_Make your own kind of music, even if nobody else sings along!_

All of a sudden he screws his eyes shut.

_So if you cannot take my hand_

Then bites the inside of his bottom lip.

_And if you must be going, I will understand!_

_You’ve gotta, make your own kind of music-_

Billy is now _shouting_ along with Mama Cas. Steve’s never seen him like this. His eyes are shut, eyebrows desperately drawn together, as his voice builds up yet seems on the edge of falling apart. He taps his foot in synch with the last sentence of the last chorus, then as the whispering crackle of the record player comes back, he opens glassy, apprehensive eyes at Steve.

Steve tries to convey what he feels through his gaze. Tries to let him know he can count on him. Tries to let him know he’s gonna be okay. He kisses him fully on the mouth and Billy’s hands cling to his neck and shoulders.

After an hour or so, Billy’s eyes are still open. Steve ponders a moment before talking again, trying to engage on a lighter subject than whatever was going on in Billy’s head throughout that song.

“So… what are you gonna do after graduation?”

Billy’s mind slowly comes up from the deep contemplation it was sunk in. His eyes focus on Steve’s hand brushing his forearm. He huffs out lightly.

“The day I’m graduating I’m getting away from this shithole town for good.”

Steve’s chest weirdly tightens at this piece of information. 

Nancy and Jonathan are going away to college next year, and Robin’ll go too now she’s put enough money aside. He’s gonna be the only one left in Hawkins in a close future.

“You… you need independence?”

Billy chuckles.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Where are you gonna go?”

There’s a moment of silence through which Billy seems to ponder.

“Well. I mean… I need to be around, so… guess I’ll go to Chicago or somethin’.”

Well _that_ was enthusiastic. Not. Steve watches him for a few seconds.

“You wanna be around but you’re getting away?”

Billy could just stay here, right? And take a flat downtown or something if he really wants to be independent. Steve can’t see why everyone wants to go away all of a sudden.

“No… I- I need to get away, but- I still gotta be around.”

Why though? Why can’t he _stay_?

“That’s- opposite things… Why do you have to get away?”

Steve knows his tone is getting heated. But it’s not like he has nothing to get upset about. Soon everyone will _go_ live their life and he’s gonna be stuck here. Alone. Well, not alone, because there’s still the kids, but they’re gonna go away eventually too. Why can’t there be someone to _stay_?

Billy spits out a chuckle, but it’s not an amused one at all.

“I _don’t_ \- I _need_ to get _away_ …”

He sighs and pinches his frowned up nose and Steve waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t go on.

“ _Why_? Why do you need to be away and around? Why- It doesn’t make any sense to me why you have to stay around if you want to go away or- or the other way around!”

Billy’s jaw is taut. And his stare is hard. He takes a deep breath before answering, with a calm voice clashing with Steve’s hurt tone.

“I need- independence, but I have to be around if anything happens to Max. I have to be around so I can be there fast if anything happens to her here.”

Steve’s face softens, his heart melting. Hell, with all the shit that happened in Hawkins, he can’t blame Billy for worrying. Steve himself could never- leave the kids here after… monsters came from underground and tried to eat everyone.

“You know, I- I think I get you, but… I mean it’s your life, and- you gotta do what you want and let the adults take care of them. I know it’s- fucking difficult but- the adults are supposed to be here for this. I mean- at least… Hopper and Mrs Byers, you know, the kids can rely on them.”

Is Steve really talking to Billy right now? He is. He _is_. But it’s also nice to hear.

Billy furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

“Mrs Byers? Like Will’s mum? Why her?”

_Wait._

Billy was never in on the upside down stuff. Steve also frowns.

“What _could_ happen to Max?”

Billy’s answer is quick. But Steve notices his jaw tightening right before.

“Nothing, just- I’m a little- paranoid.”

He lifts himself from the couch and strides over Steve to get up and get his pants. Running from deep conversations, as always.

Steve’s eyes follow him. And just like that the room crumbles to pieces.

_No._

Billy’s pants are hoisted up over his bruised up thigh.

_No._

Max said she _hated_ Neil. She said it twice. She _shouted it_ twice.

Steve feels like he’s going to puke.

“Billy.”

Billy turns around at the change in Steve’s tone.

“Billy, what could happen to Max?”

His head falls backwards in exasperation but the rest of his body is _rigid_. His voice raises.

“ _Nothing_ , alright? Nothing’ll happen to her! As long as I’m around nothing’ll happen to her!”

His voice did an almost imperceptible inflection on the word ‘her’.

“Is Max safe?”

Billy almost roars.

“ _YES!_ She’s _safe_ , I just fucking _told you_! Drop it!”

He snatches his shirt from the ground and harshly pulls it on.

Steve can feel the tears rising. Billy needs to _get away_ but he needs to stay around _in case something happens to Max_. Panic starts shaking his insides.

“Billy, are you safe at home?”

Billy is _pissed off_. His gaze on Steve turns murderous.

“ _Fuck you_ , I told you to _drop it!_ ”

Tears are threateningly close to the corner of Steve’s eyes.

“Billy- please, I need you to tell me you’re safe, I- I don’t want you hurt, I- care about you-”

Billy burst out in a loud, mean laugh at that, eyes still throwing daggers right into Steve’s heart. Then his tone turns frighteningly calm, and cold.

“No you don’t. You care about _Max_.”

He could just punch Steve in the guts and it would be the exact same. Steve refrains his lip from trembling.

“I _do_ care about Max. But I care about _you_ , Billy, _please_. I _do_.”

The cruel laugh from earlier has completely washed off. What remains seems to be only hate. He raises his voice again and Steve can’t bring himself to recognize it.

“You _don’t_. I’m just the first guy you’re fucking. Ten years from now when you’re married with your hometown sweetheart, one-acre garden, white picket-fence, kids and all, you won’t even remember my _fucking name!_ You’ll just remember having a fling with a guy, maybe you’ll think ‘huh, he was troubled, wonder what he became after that? He could be a rockstar or dying in gutter right now, hell, I wouldn’t know!’ And you _won’t!_ Cause you _don’t_ care.”

It hurts worse than when Billy beat his face to mush a year ago. Steve feels an acid taste on the back of his tongue. His voice is reduced to a near whisper.

“Why wouldn’t _you_ be married, with- a hometown sweetheart, and- kids and-”

Billy laughs again, making Steve’s chest freeze even colder. He’s losing him. Now tears are blurring his vision, threatening to cascade down his eyelashes.

Billy’s eyes on the other hand are wide with _intense_ rage. His voice is loud and unsteady.

“Have you _seen_ me Steve? I’m everyone’s _crazy fling_ from their twenties! I’m-”

Steve doesn’t know why he gets bolder at this in particular.

“I don’t see this as a fling! I _care_ about you, please, I-”

Billy _explodes_.

“ _FUCK! YOU! Fuck_ you! You’re a _fucking liar!_ I’m out of here!”

Steve’s cheeks are finally flooded.

“No, Billy, please-”

Billy chaotically strides across the room to retrieve his things, before heading to the front door. Steve puts his boxers on as fast as he can to run and plant himself across Billy’s path, eyes imploring.

“Look, please, _please_. Don’t go and here me out. I care about and I don’t _fucking understand_ why you think that I don’t, when I _told_ you I _do_. I don’t understand- I mean-”

Billy’s already put everything back on. He’s looking straight through Steve, focused solely on the door.

“Let me out.”

Steve doesn’t move.

“Are you safe at home, Billy?”

“Fuckin’ _drop it already!_ Let me out!”

“Please, _please_ , Billy! You can’t even answer me! What d’you think I’m concluding?! I just don’t want you hurt, I told you, I _care_ about y-”

“WELL I _DON’T!_ Let me _OUT!_ ”

This is the worst punch. Steve’s voice can’t stay steady. Can’t be any louder than a murmur.

“You’re angry. You don’t mean it.”

Billy’s hard stare comes back to Steve’s face.

“Oh, I’m angry. And I mean it.”

Steve desperately tries to search his eyes for something, but finds only cold fury. Billy knocks his shoulder while going for the door and slams it on the way out.

He can’t breathe. He can’t stay on his feet. He can’t process this. 

He runs to the downstairs bathroom to puke. Why is he always alone in a fucking dead house when that kind of fucked up thing happens?

Steve can’t sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheheh sorry for the angst.
> 
> also should I make a tag for 80s homophobic environment? (with the 'can't really go out' thing?)
> 
> also should i mention that it's _Steve_ who thinks Steve's stupid? and that it's _Billy_ who thinks Billy is a bad person? ikr very not obvious


End file.
